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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chapd!_!:-. Copyright Xo. 

Shelf.. _J^_4 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



New Testament Conversions 



THEIR MANIFOLDNESS 



THE REV. WILLIAM CHARLES ROBERTS, D.D., LL.D. 




0JL1~\» 



s 



PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION AND 
SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK, PHILADELPHIA, 1895 






6 



The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



COFTR1GHT, 1896, BT 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD 
OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH- 
SCHOOL WORK. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Preface 5 

Chap. I. The Conversion of the Keligiously-reared 

Andrew and John 9 

Chap. II. The Conversion of a Kich Tax Gatherer — 

Zaccheus 24 

Chap. III. The Conversion of an Afflicted Beggar — 

Bartimeus 40 

Chap. IV. The Conversion of a Timid and Lonely 
Invalid — the Woman with the Issue of 
Blood 56 

Chap. V. The Conversion of a Disreputable Villager 

— the Woman of Samaria 72 

Chap. VI. The Conversion of One Outside the Chosen 

People — the Syro-Phoenician Woman. . 86 

Chap. VII. The Conversion of a Broken-Down Mer- 
chant — the Demoniac of Gadara 101 

Chap. VIII. The Conversion of a Man at the Last Hour 

— the Malefactor on the Cross 116 

Chap. IX. The Conversion of a Prime Minister — the 

Ethiopian Eunuch 131 

Chap. X. The Conversion of a Man of the Highest 

Social Standing — Cornelius 145 

Chap. XL The Conversion of a Great Genius — Saul of 

Tarsus 161 



Preface. 



THE history of this volume of sermons is 
soon told. Daring his pastorates, East and 
West, the writer was frequently consulted 
by members of his congregation regarding the 
validity of their conversion. After witnessing a 
revival of religion or listening to the experience 
of those converted at such a season, they often 
entertained doubts as to the genuineness of 
their own conversion. They had accepted the 
general impression that the means which arrest 
the sinner's attention, the path through which 
he is led to the Cross, aud the feelings expe- 
rienced on accepting the Saviour, are exactly 
the same in all cases. The writer has spent 
many an hour in prayer and in efforts to con- 
vince such that men are not all converted in 
the same way, made to pass through the same 
struggles, or to experience the same joys. 
This has seemed to many like a new revela- 
ton. It has brought them from painful bond- 
age to the liberty of the children of God. 

This pastoral experience suggested the pro- 
priety of preparing a series of discourses on 
5 



6 PREFACE. 

the different phases of conversion. To remove 
every doubt as to the correctness of the truths 
presented, conversions recorded in the New 
Testament alone were selected as the themes. 
From the attendance at church and the inter- 
est manifested by the secular press, it became 
evident that the subject was one of more than 
ordinary interest. The discourses were reported 
almost verbatim and published in one of the 
leading journals of the city. Since then they 
have been rewritten from the stenographic re- 
ports and, the author hopes, materially im- 
proved. Repeated requests have been received 
that they should be put into a permanent form 
for the benefit of the many who feel troubled 
about the genuineness of their conversion. 
Compliance with this request has led me to 
throw this new volume upon the public. 

The conversions considered in this volume 
are arranged in four classes, according to pecu- 
liarities common to the members of each. The 
first class comprises men who had been religi- 
ously reared, but differently situated in after 
life. The first sermon is on the conversion of 
the disciples who were not only religiously 
reared, but who also enjoyed the pungent 
preaching of John the Baptist. The second is 
on the conversion of a son of Abraham who 
had gone far astray from the faith of his 
fathers; and the third is on the conversion of 
an Israelite religiously reared, but who, through 



PKEFACE. 7 

bodily infirmities, bad been deprived of many 
of the privileges which others enjoyed. The 
second class comprises three women, one of 
whom was an afflicted member of the Jewish 
Church, another belonged to a heretical sect, 
and the third was a heathen, conscious of not 
being one of the chosen people. The third 
class comprises two men, one wrecked in body 
and in mind by his dissipated life, and the 
other a malefactor drawing his la§t breath on 
the cross. The fourth class comprises three 
who occupied a very different position from all 
the others, both in society and in the world. 
One was the prime minister of a great mon- 
arch ; the second was a member of the most 
illustrious family of Rome ; and the third was 
the greatest genius of his age. 

As these discourses have been largely pre- 
pared for the press from stenographic reports, it 
has been impossible to give credit by name to all 
those from whose writings extracts have been 
taken. It is not claimed that even quotation 
marks have been always put when the expres- 
sions of others have been incorporated. The 
aim of the author has not been to be original 
and novel, but useful to every one who asks, 
" Am I his or am I not ?" 



Chapter i. 



THE CONVERSION OF THE RELIGIOUSLY- 
REARED ANDREW AND JOHN. 



John i. 37-50 : "And the two disciples heard him speak, 
and they followed Jesus." 

THE only entrance into the kingdom of 
heaven is through regeneration. The 
announcement of this fact perplexes and 
even discourages many sincere seekers after it. 
It causes them to ask such questions as, " Is 
every renewed person required to know the 
time, the place and the order of his spiritual 
birth ? " " Must he be able to tell the arrest- 
ing means, the convicting truth and the hour of 
deliverance ? " 

These questions arise from the mistaken idea 
that all men are converted in the same man- 
ner, pass through the same struggles and expe- 
rience the same joys. Those who have fallen 
into this mistake conclude that, if they have 
not taken the same steps and felt the same 
agony of soul as those whom they have heard 



10 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

tell their experience, they have not been 
born again. They often become troubled in 
mind if they do not pronounce themselves self- 
deceived. Thus multitudes of God's children 
deny themselves for years the comforts of re- 
ligion and deprive the Church of years of valu- 
able service. 

A careful examination of the conversions de- 
scribed in the New Testament will show that 
they differed from each other both in the means 
employed and in the feelings experienced. The 
conversion of the disciples who had been John's 
followers presents nothing startling in the means 
emplo} T ed, the mental process through which 
the} 7 passed, or in their outward conduct. This 
is not strange when it is remembered that 
they had been reared religiously, made to obey 
the commandments, trained to live moral lives, 
led to pass through the baptism of repentance 
and taught to look for the coming of the Mes- 
siah. The conversion of Zaccheus, on the other 
hand, was very different. He had disregarded 
the demands of the law and abandoned the 
religious practices of the true Israel; he had 
become thoroughly identified with the world 
and lived like the heathen around him. He 
was suddenly arrested in a life of extortion, 
and brought to confess his sins and to begin 
to live a better life. The conversion of the 
thief on the cross was different from both. 
He had lived the desperate life of a thief or a 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 11 

murderer. Spiritual things had found no place 
in his life or thoughts. The words of Christ 
on the cross, like the strains of celestial music, 
were probably the first means that softened his 
heart. The hand nailed to the cursed tree 
snatched him as a brand from the burning. 
His exclamation, " Lord, remember me," shows 
that he found the Saviour at the last moment. 
His conviction, conversion and sanctification 
were almost synchronous. The conversion of 
Cornelius, whilst it was not accompanied by 
any special outward demonstration, was a great 
surprise. The power that could bring a proud 
Roman to the feet of the humble Nazarene must 
have been above anything earthly. The bring- 
ing of a member of the haughty Cornelian 
family to mingle with Jewish peasants and 
Galilean fishermen marked a change of views 
and feelings which none but God could effect. 
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was in most 
of its features miraculous — the very kind of 
conversion looked for, unfortunately, by the 
majority of unregenerate men. He was arrested 
in his wild career of persecution and smitten 
to the ground by light from heaven ; he was 
struck with blindness and made to hear the 
voice of Jesus saying, " Saul, Saul, why perse- 
cutest thou me?" He listened to the heavenly 
voice which changed the whole current of his 
life. After experiencing such a conversion he 
found no difficulty in remembering the day, 



12 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

the means, or the circumstances connected 
with it. 

Similar varieties of conversion are witnessed 
in our own day. The carefully instructed and 
religiously reared are often brought to Christ 
like the disciples, without anything to mark 
the time or the means. President Edwards 
states that he could not remember when he was 
brought to Christ. Thousands like him have 
no more knowledge of the day of their spiritual 
than they have of the day of their natural birth. 
There are many, on the other hand, who can 
tell, in the words of another, the exact time of 
it, " Giving the day and the date, the hour, the 
providence, the place, the text, the preacher, and 
all the circumstances connected with it. They 
can show the arrow which, shot from some bow 
drawn at a venture, pierced the joints of their 
armor and quivered in their heart. They can 
show the pebble from the brook that, slung it 
may be by a youthful hand, but directed by 
God, was buried in the forehead of their giant 
sin. They can show the word that prostrated 
their soul and — some truth of Scripture — the 
salve that healed the sore, the balm that 
stanched the blood, and the bandage that 
Christ's own hands wrapped on the bleeding 
wounds. Able to trace the steps of the whole 
process of their conversion, its most minute 
details, they can say with David : ' Come 
and hear, all ye that fear the Lord, and I 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 13 

will declare what he hath done for my 
soul.'" 

Inability to recall the moment when our 
hearts were changed, or to tell the circum- 
stances which led to it, or to describe the joy 
T\hich followed, is no cause of discouragement. 
None of us can tell when or where the first 
faint steel-graj^ gleam of morn appears, though 
we turn our faces to the East and our backs 
to the setting sun; we know it only after the' 
day has appeared. In like manner thousands 
of Christians can only say with the man in 
the gospel, u "Whereas I was blind, now I see." 
They are conscious of the presence of a life 
that they did not once possess throbbing with- 
in them in feelings and acts of godliness. Con- 
sciousness of their spiritual existence is all the 
proof men need of their birth into Christ's 
kingdom. 

In this series of discourses it will be shown 
that every conversion is a new conversion; 
that is to say, it is different in some of its 
aspects from every one that has gone before 
or that will follow. The structure of men's 
minds is different, the individual bias is dif- 
ferent, the training is different, the sur- 
rounding circumstances are different, and the 
effects of the change are different, though 
conversion itself is in every case genuine. No 
one, therefore, should feel discouraged when he 
fails to find much in common between his own 



14 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

experience and that of his pious neighbors. In 
our treatment of New Testament conversions 
we shall endeavor to correct the error that the 
circumstances, the means used and the outward 
effects of conversion are in all cases the same. 

The subject of this discourse is " The Con- 
version of the Religiously-Reared Andrew and 
John." 

These disciples had followed the Baptist into 
the wilderness, where they heard words which 
proved like a hammer, breaking in pieces their 
flinty hearts and piercing like a flame of fire 
their hidden thoughts. Though they had been 
brought up religiously, yet not until John 
came did they learn the awful character of the 
law of Sinai or see its full purity or grandeur. 
Under the Baptist's preaching they realized 
their guilt and felt their need of the Lamb of 
God now pointed out to them. 

Notice, first, what men of this character are 
required to do in order to enter the kingdom 
of God. Three things are here mentioned, 
namely, coming to Christ, trusting his saving 
power, and following him through evil and 
good report. Recognizing the valuable prepa- 
ration which they had received under the 
preaching of his forerunner, the Saviour in- 
vited Andrew and John to visit his abode. 
Mark the breadth and beauty of this invita- 
tion, "Come and see"; not to one brief in- 
terview, not to a desultory conversation, not to 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 15 

one passing hour of fellowship in -which they 
might listen to his words, but to see, to 
know, ancl to live with him. The same invita- 
tion is still sent to all who have not found him. 

What encouragement and promise are con- 
tained in the word "see." It implies that the 
deepest longing of the human heart is to see 
Jesus. The Greeks who had heard of him 
cried, " We would see Jesus." To see him is 
to have one's inquiring soul satisfied. There 
are, however, degrees of seeing him. Great was 
the glory of Him which was seen by Moses on 
the Mount, but greater was that beheld by 
Andrew and John as they accompanied him to 
the place of his abode. The entire Christian life 
may be included in the act of seeing Jesus — 
seeing him under his own guidance; seeing his 
glory day by day ; seeing his divine kindness 
in providing for their wants and in watching 
over their steps; seeing the blessings of the 
covenant sealed by his blood ; seeing here the 
privileges of his spiritual kingdom, and seeing 
in the dim distance some of the glory still to 
be revealed. 

Those who are religiously reared are not 
only to come to where Jesus dwells, but to 
trust him for their salvation. Finding Simon, 
Andrew's brother, the two disciples announced 
to him the wonderful discovery they had made : 
"We have found the Messiah," and have com- 
mitted to him our keeping. This simple dec- 



16 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

laration must have brought to the mind of 
Simon multitudes of facts and incidents al- 
ready familiar to him. It may have suggested 
to him the first promise ; the majesty of that 
wonderful night when Jehovah appeared unto 
Abraham on the open plains and showed him 
the sky with its myriad stars, and gave him 
the promise of one who should redeem Israel ; 
of the glorious manifestation of God's interest 
in his people in bringing them out of their 
Egyptian bondage by the hand of Moses, and 
of the bright star which cast its sweet light 
on the plains of Moab. Can it be that the 
glorious One whose advent is repeatedly fore- 
told has at last come to earth? Has my own 
ln*other seen him and committed to him his 
keeping ? 

The revelation of Christ to those who have 
been religiously reared in our day brings to 
mind many passages of Scripture with a sig- 
nificance and vividness they never had before. 
In this new light they connect Jesus with the 
salvation of their own souls and cast on him 
their all for time and eternity. It is only 
when they find themselves safe in the arms of 
Jesus that their hearts are melted, and the 
snows of the long winter of their unbelief are 
dissolved into sweet waters, which now, freed 
from their icy chains, flow with music in their 
ripples and fruitfulness in their path through 
their lately bare and barren lives. They now 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 17 

see that there is no spiritual life without vital 
connection with the Son of God. 

The disciples not only went to see Jesus 
and intrusted to him their all, but they left 
the world to follow him. " Straightway they 
forsook their nets and followed him." Ko 
mention is here made of a remonstrance or 
hesitation. INTot one of them asked if he might 
once more cast his nets into the sea, or have 
a day to mend them, or a few hours to dry 
those which had just been pulled out of the 
deep. They heard the call and instantly obeyed 
it. The voice of Jesus is the same to every 
one of us, and our reply should be identical 
with that of Andrew and John. We must not 
ask his permission to weave any more right- 
eousness of our own, or to patch our character 
that it may present a better appearance to the 
world, or to go any longer through the dull 
round of religious ceremonies which we may 
have mistaken for walking with God. We 
must straightway follow him. 

Secondly, men are not all brought to do this 
in the same manner. In the text is set forth 
the way in which those who have been relig- 
iously reared are brought to Christ. Andrew 
and John had from childhood correct theoreti- 
cal knowledge of God's demands; they had 
lived, to all human appearance, religious lives, 
and had been roused by the preaching of John 
to look beyond the shadow to the substance, 



s 



18 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

beyond the form to the reality, beyond the 
abstract doctrine to the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the world. All enjoyed 
those privileges and heard the voice of Jesus 
inviting them. All still, no matter how great 
their privileges or correct their lives, how deep 
their conviction of sin or vivid their sense of 
guilt, must hear the voice of Jesus and obey. 
None will take a single step towards Christ 
until they hear his voice. The faintest long- 
ing after him, the first tear of penitence 
that trickles clown the cheek, the first cry of 
the soul for rest and the first motion towards 
Christ result from hearing his voice. Have 
3 t ou, dear reader, experienced tender feelings 
towards him ; felt the tear of penitence mois- 
tening the eye, or a secret prompting of the 
soul to follow him ? That is the echo of his 
voice speaking in the depth of your heart. 
It is an emotion born of God. It is the first 
breath from the four winds passing over the 
valley of dry bones in your soul. It may be 
the first pulsation of the new life within. It 
may be feeble ; it may be only a whisper 
darting through the soul like a flash of light- 
ning, a faint longing after God — it is neverthe- 
less born- from above. Stop not there, but ask 
the Saviour to quicken this spark into a flame. 
Seek the godly sorrow which worketh repent- 
ance not to be repented of. Let nothing make 
you linger ; cast aside every hindrance and 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 19 

break through all the barriers in your way to 
Jesus' arms. The heavenly messenger who is 
now calling may never issue another invitation. 

Simon was brought to Christ by his own 
brother, Andrew. This presents to us a very 
suggestive thought. Instead of going first to 
tell the story of his discovery to the multi- 
tudes without, who are perishing for the lack 
of knowledge, he went first to his own house- 
hold. In this he followed the order of nature 
as well as of grace. The conversion of the 
man who overlooks the perishing among his 
own relatives and friends, and goes immedi- 
ately after the distant ones, is not Scriptural 
in his conduct. It is not natural to feel anx- 
ious for the souls of those whom we have never 
seen and be indifferent towards those among 
whom we live. If you, reader, have found 
Jesus, go at once to those who are near and 
dear to 3 ou and tell them that you have found 
the Messiah. Bid them " Come and see." Then 
go after the outside world with the same zeal. 

"The clay following, Jesus would go forth 
into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto 
him, Follow me." There is apparent imperious- 
ness in this command, but no apology is of- 
fered. Jesus does not give Philip time to de- 
liberate or hours for decision. He listens to 
no plea for delay nor entertains an excuse. 
The command is, " Follow me." It is thus that 
Christ speaks to every one. He may find us, 



20 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

as he found Philip, busily engaged in worldly 
pursuits and fully occupied with family affairs 
or household duties, and says, " Follow me." 
He tells us that his claim is paramount to that 
of all others, admitting of no delay. " Follow 
me " is heard above the voice of pleasure and 
the clatter of worldly cares. When the request, 
" Let me first bury my father," is made, Christ's 
reply is, " Let the dead bury the dead." " Fol- 
low thou me." 

The feeling w T hich prompted Andrew to go 
after Simon now prompted Fhilip to go after 
Nathanael. But he found his mind full of 
questionings and misgivings. He did not, how- 
ever, stop to reason with him regarding the 
causes of his perplexities. He entered into 
no controversy about the probability or the 
improbability of any good coming out of Naza- 
reth. He met his doubts and fears with the 
kindly invitation, " Come and see." Nathanael 
followed Jesus and, in following him, his doubts 
disappeared, his difficulties passed away, and 
the light of assurance concerning the identity 
of the Messias dawned upon his soul. 

Are you, dear reader, troubled with doubts 
and fears? Has the poisonous arrow of unbe- 
lief penetrated your soul ? Has the cloud of 
disappointment eclipsed your faith or intervened 
between you and the light of } T our Father's 
countenance ? Waste no time in surveying 
the intricate fields of apologetics. Do not weary 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 21 

your soul with efforts to solve the dark prob- 
lems of providence. Follow Jesus and all will 
be well. Are you, like Martha, troubled about 
many things? Do crosses multiply? Has God's 
providence hedged your way so that you know 
not how to proceed ? Follow Jesus, and the 
path of duty will be made plain, rays of heav- 
enly love will dart through the clouds which 
now obstruct your vision. 

The call of Jesus to Andrew and John, Simon, 
Philip and Nathanael was to them the dawn 
of a new and better day. It broke upon their 
view whilst the rest of the world was as yet 
sleeping the sleep of death. But by degrees 
the true Israel, who had heard the voice of 
the harbinger and had long waited for the 
promised redemption, saw tbe rising of the Sun 
of Righteousness and rejoiced. At last the 
bridegroom for whom they had been looking 
came. He met and recognized the bride. The 
bride finally met and recognized the bridegroom. 
She listened to his voice and obeyed his call. 
He appeared to them meek and lowly. His 
royalty was as yet concealed. The glory which 
he had had with the Father was veiled in 
human flesh ; nevertheless, he attracted to him- 
self all whom the Father had given him. All 
who had been prepared by God through the 
prophecies, the types and the shadows ; by the 
preaching of the law and the baptism of John, 
followed him. They found in him the fulfill- 



22 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

ment of the prophecies, the substance of the 
shadows, and the realization of the hopes and 
longings of God's people in all ages. 

Are you, impenitent reader, satisfied "with 
your bare morality and the performance of a 
meaningless round of religious duties? Are 
you still unable to see the need of an3'thing 
more than an upright conduct? Has not God 
spoken to you through his providence, his 
Word and Spirit ? Has he not awakened 
doubts in regard to the safety of your pres- 
ent attitude of mind and heart? Has he not, 
through the preaching of the word, the faith of 
a friend, a wife or a mother, shown you that 
something more is needed? Has he not stirred 
up some longings after like faith and commu- 
nion with God with that of loved ones gone to 
glory? Hear, this moment, the voice of the 
Baptist, saying, " Behold the Lamb of God 
which taketh away the sin of the world." That 
Lamb is the Christ. It is the long-looked-for 
Alessias. It is the Alpha and the Omega, the 
beginning and the ending. He says to you, 
" Follow me," " Come and see." Remain no 
longer under the teachings of the law r or in 
the school of morality. Having worshiped long 
enough in the outer court, accept at once the 
invitation to " Come and see." Believe Christ's 
word, seek his fellowship, and see that your 
name is enrolled among his followers. 

As soon as Andrew comprehended the full 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 23 

meaning of the invitation, " Come and see," he 
uttered the jubilant cry, "We have found the 
Christ." This stirred the heart of Philip to re- 
echo the same. Nathanael took up the strain 
which was passing from lip to lip, and added, 
" We have found him of whom Moses and the 
prophets did write." This set the hearts of all 
who believed on fire and filled their lips with 
praise. So let it be with you, dear reader. 
Let 3'our cry be, " Jesus, Jesus only ; " Jesus 
in my heart as the hope of glory ; Jesus in 
my affections as the one altogether lovely ; 
Jesus on my tongue as the only subject of 
praise : Jesus in my life as my present and 
eternal righteousness ; Jesus in my death as 
the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, 
and Jesus in my heavenly joys as my all and 
in all. 



Chapter ii. 



THE CONVERSION OF A RICH TAX 
GATHERER-ZACCHEUS. 



Luke xix. 5, 6 : " Zaccheus, make haste, and come down ; 
for to-day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, 
and came down, and received him joyfully." 

THE disciples whose conversion was con- 
sidered in our last, lived in the quiet 
hamlets that dotted the shores of the 
Sea of Galilee. Their calling was that of fish- 
ermen, which was held in high repute among 
the Jews. They had not been contaminated by 
the dissipation of societ} 7 or by the corruption 
of wealth in large and royal cities like Jericho. 
Zaccheus, on the other hand, was born and 
reared amid the pomp and splendor, the vice 
and temptations of the Herodian capital which 
was called " the city of fragrance," because the 
whole plain was covered with aromatic shrubs; 
" the city of roses," because the valley of the 
Jordan looked in the spring like a sea whipped 
into foam, and " the city of palm trees," because 
24 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 25 

the whole region abounded in richer vegeta- 
tion than that found in any other part of Pales- 
tine. At this time, Jericho was able to boast 
of the royal palace of Herod Antipas and of 
the gorgeous abodes of his courtiers. It formed 
the golden key which unlocked Palestine and 
the Mediterranean to the nations of the East. 
Its population was about one hundred thousand 
souls, exclusive of the pilgrims who stopped there 
for a season on their way home from observing 
the Jewish passover. 

Zaccheus not only lived in a place fall of 
temptations, but he occupied a position pecu- 
liarly tiying to his religious principles, so far 
as he had any. He was the chief of the publi- 
cans — an office of considerable importance under 
the Roman government. A publican was the 
collector of the imperial taxes. The methods 
used by the Romans of collecting them, in a 
city like Jericho, was to farm them out ; that 
is, to bind the officer to pay a certain sum to 
the government, with the understanding that he 
was entitled to all he could exact from the people. 
Under such circumstances a most favorable op- 
portunity was afforded him for extortion, fraud 
and violence. The strongest temptation was thus 
laid in the publican's way to become rich by 
what the sacred penman calls " false accusation." 

Zaccheus was not onl} T a native of Jericho, 
and the chief of the tax gatherers, but he was 
rich. It is not stated whether his wealth was 



26 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

accumulated by his own efforts or fell to bim 
by inheritance. The inference from the record 
is that be made most of it himself, and a large 
portion perhaps by extortion. 

The subject to which 3 r our attention is invited 
is " The Conversion of a Rich Tax Gatherer — 
Zaccheus." 

Notice first, the obstacles in the way of his 
conversion. These were mainly three ; viz., local, 
circumstantial and associational ; m other words, 
they sprang from the three sources referred to 
in the text, namely, the place where he lived, 
the office which he held, and the social position 
he occupied in the community. 

The place in which he lived exposed him to 
three temptations. First, to a low estimate of 
the religion of his fathers. Jericho was a city 
of priests, who were at this time exceedingly 
corrupt. Consequently, the publicans concluded 
that a religion which had such men to minis- 
ter at her altars was not of much value, if it 
was from God. On the same principle the peo- 
ple of Rome judge in our day of the Christian 
religion from the priests whose lives are known 
to all who observe them. 

Zaccheus was exposed also to the paralysis 
arising from breathing the foulest atmosphere 
of home and foreign corruption. Jericho was 
not only a city of priests, but of all sorts of 
people, many of whom were among the most de- 
graded of the nations. On account of its loca- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 27 

tion, wealth and royal splendor, Jericho became 
the home of the Roman tax gatherers and extor- 
tioners generally. Through their wealth and 
numbers they commanded a larger amount of 
respect than they were really entitled to. For 
their low morally did not appear in as glaring 
a light there as it would have done in Jerusa- 
lem or Capernaum. 

Zaccheus was further exposed to the temp- 
tations of gayety and licentiousness. In Jericho, 
Herod the Great lived and displayed his wealth 
and extravagance. The conduct of the king 
and his courtiers was naturally imitated by all 
who could afford it, and even by manjr, as in 
our own day, who could not afford it. This 
led the ambitious and unscrupulous to all kinds 
of expedients to amass riches in order to make 
a display. 

Not only the place in which Zaccheus lived, 
but also the office he held, exposed him to 
temptations. First, to extortion — a practice which 
degraded him even in his own eyes. He knew 
that the only redress open to an overtaxed 
people was an appeal to law, in which their 
chance of redress was slender before a tribunal 
of which the judge was a heathen and the 
gatherer an unscrupulous official of the Roman 
government. This comparative freedom from de- 
tection was a temptation to indulge in dishonest}'' 
and fraud. 

It exposed him also to hardness of heart 



28 NEW TESTAMENT COX VERSIONS. 

and harshness of manner, destructive of kindly 
feelings. He came in contact with human na- 
ture in the line of the most degraded busi- 
ness. He had to contend with men's ignorance, 
stupidity, and plans to deceive ; consequently , 
if he was ever tender hearted, he would become, 
in time, impatient, if not feelingless. 

Zaccheus's office exposed him, once more, to 
indifference to moral and religious restraints. 
He was despised and looked upon by the peo- 
ple as one totally devoid of character. They 
regarded the publicans as excluded from the 
religious life and communion of the true Israel, 
as devoid of conscience and without the fear 
of God before their eyes. Zaccheus accepted 
as true this sentiment regarding the class to 
which he belonged, and followed his calling 
without expectation of anj'thing better. The 
same thing is largely true of certain classes of 
men in our own day. They conclude that it 
is useless to try to do anything toward becom- 
ing religious, because they cannot rise in the 
estimation of their fellow-men or convince even 
their friends that they are sincere. 

Zaccheus's wealth, as well as his office and 
dwelling place, exposed him to temptation. It 
cannot be denied that riches everywhere tend to 
drive men from God and to plunge them into 
the corruption and fashions of the world. With 
what emphasis does the Saviour say, " How 
hardly shall they that have riches enter into 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 29 

the kingdom of God ! " The publican was 
rich. As a consequence he was thrown into 
the compairy of those who could not abide the 
self-denial of religion, loved all sorts of indul- 
gences, and were heathen in their principles 
and conduct. 

Zaccheus's case seemed at this time hopeless. 
The obstacles in the way of his conversion 
were most formidable. All connected with his 
home, calling and condition looked like insur- 
mountable barriers to the entrance of saving 
truth into his heart. But God's grace triumphed 
over them all. Grace never shines in all its 
loveliness until it comes in contact with great 
obstacles. Then only does it shine in its full 
glory. It is in pardoning a dying thief, in wel- 
coming a forlorn prodigal, in acquitting a noted 
adulteress, or in seeking and saving a public ex- 
tortioner, that its truest and brightest colors are 
reflected. These are some of its richest tro- 
phies. They are the gems which sparkle in the 
crown of infinite love. They are the jewels 
which are destined to shine forever in the dia- 
dem of the King of kings. 

Notice, next, the successive steps that led to 
his conversion. And, first, those taken by the 
publican himself. They are striking, and fitted 
to reflect credit on his manliness and courage. 
The first is to resolve to see Jesus. This was 
the grandest resolution of his life, though it 
did not perhaps seem so to him at the time. 



30 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 

We read that " he sought to see Jesus who 
he was." He had heard of him, and the tidings 
may have revived in his soul the early truths he 
had learned at his mother's knee in regard to 
the promised Messiah. He had long heard of 
him. He had been for years dissatisfied with his 
own life. In his sober moments he had looked 
for some means that would bring him to believe 
the religion of his fathers. At last he came to 
the conclusion that Jesus might do this. But 
he could not see him, and felt that the fault 
was not his but God's. He was small of 
stature. 

Besides, Christ was surrounded by a multi- 
tude who rendered it difficult, if not impossi- 
ble, for him to see him. Nevertheless, Zac- 
cheus furnishes us with a striking illustration 
of the proverb, " Where there is a will there 
is a way." He had resolved to see the dis- 
tinguished stranger as he was passing b} T . For 
that purpose "he ran before" the multitude. He 
not only desired to see him, but he put forth 
every effort in order to do it. He ran — not a 
dignified attitude by any means for the chief of 
the publicans — but he was in earnest, he was 
bent on accomplishing his object, and hence he 
laid aside minor considerations. He resolved to 
overcome, if possible, all the obstacles lying in 
his path. In his desire to see, and efforts to 
meet Jesus, we find an illustration of what men 
can do in our day to find the Saviour. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS, 31 

Zaccheus not only desired to see Jesus, and 
ran before the multitude for that purpose, but 
he put himself in a position in which he would 
be able to catch a view of his face and form 
if he could not hear his voice. " He climbed 
up into a sycomore tree to see him.-' This 
tree has large, long limbs running out almost at 
right angles with the trunk, and, in many cases, 
near the ground. Hence it was well adapted to 
the purpose for which Zaccheus selected it. He 
had, however, but little hope that the Saviour 
would notice him. He hid himself among the 
branches. Nevertheless, every step he took, 
however trivial and accidental it may have 
seemed at the time, brought him nearer and 
nearer to seeing the Saviour face to face. 

Not a few of us can look back and see how 
strangely we were led to Christ's feet. Provi- 
dence often hedged up the particular path we 
had selected, and opened another we never 
thought of; it thwarted some favorite plan we 
had formed, and presented another which a 
combination of events led us to adopt. How 
often has some apparently accidental step, or 
a trifling incident, led to a train of associations 
and occurrences which changed the whole course 
of our lives. A moment too late for the train; 
the falling of a shower driving us to seek 
shelter in the house of a neighbor ; a hint let 
fall in general conversation, or the climbing to 
some high place to gratify curiosity — on these 



32 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

and circumstances more trifling still hang often 
the most momentous issues of our life. How- 
blessed to think that in this tangled web of cir- 
cumstances, in the labyrinth which momentarily 
entwines itself round our feet, we are not left 
to walk alone ! How blessed the thought that a 
wise, loving and an unseen hand is directing 
our steps 1 

In connection with this course of the pub- 
lican, let us trace that of the Saviour. First, 
he went in the direction in which he was ex- 
pected to go. He knew that Zaccheus had 
climbed up into a s}^comore tree to see him. 
He was more anxious to see the publican than 
the publican was to see him. The seeker was 
sought and found. Blessed fact ! If we put 
ourselves like Zaccheus in Christ's waj x , we 
are sure to be found of him. For no cares 
or business will draw him aside. He always 
goes in the direction of the waiting sinner. 
He marks every beat of his heart, traces his 
steps to the place in which he expects to see 
him, and finds him even when he has fled into 
the most secret concealment. 

Christ not only went in the way leading to 
the sycomore tree, but he looked up. Who can 
describe or even imagine the way Zaccheus 
must have felt when he saw the multitude, 
headed by the Master, moving toward him ? 
Vaguely and perhaps confusedly his past life, 
with its sins and sorrows, misgivings and doubts, 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 33 

passed before his eye ; longing and hope, fear 
and trembling expectation filled his soul. Yet 
he would see Jesus, for he was to pass that 
way, and then all would be over, and he would 
go home perhaps to quiet conscience and hope 
for something better. But would seeing Jesus 
meet his expectation? Would that end his cap- 
tivity? Would it solve the problem of his life? 
Would it remove the manacles from his hands 
and feet? Would it take away the burden he 
had borne for years? At this juncture the 
Saviour made his appearance He halted, looked 
up, and the people paused and held their breath 1 
Christ not only moved in the right direction, 
but he looked up, not simply at the tree, not 
with an indifferent glance, nor merely to see 
what kind of man the hiding publican was, but 
he cast on his hard face a loving, melting look ! 
There went out in that glance the declarations, 
" Thou art the man ! I am in search of thee ! 
Thou art an heir of glory ! " For a moment 
the publican was embarrassed, perplexed, and 
no doubt troubled. But, 

1 ' A second look he gave, which said, 
I freely all forgive ; 
My blood is for thy ransom paid ; 
I die that thou mayst live." 

The third step was to call Zaccheus by name. 
He singled him out from among the rest. He 
let him know that his name and character were 



34 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

perfectly familiar to him. He convinced him 
that, though a publican, lost in his own estima- 
tion, he was of some importance in the sight of 
the world's Saviour. Though shunned by his 
countrymen, he thought of him! This is in 
keeping with the rule Christ uniformly observes 
in dealing with sinners. We read of a thief 
saved, of a lost sheep sought and found, of a 
leper returning to give thanks to God, of a 
prodigal welcomed by his father, of an extor- 
tioner sought and brought within the Saviour's 
fold. 

How tellingly does all this teach our individ- 
ual importance in the sight of God, however 
worthless we may be in the estimation of our 
fellowmen! How often is it said, "I am of no 
importance in the world. Can God care for 
such a poor, frail, insignificant creature as I ? 
Can he think of one so guilty as I, one whom 
the world despises, one forgotten by friends and 
left alone?" Such examples as I have given 
should rebuke our unbelieving thoughts. 

The other step in the conversion of Zaccheus 
was the command to obedience — " Make haste, 
and come down." The publican might have said, 
" The multitude will laugh at my coming down 
from this tree ; those who believe that I have 
defrauded them will sneer at the thought of 
my becoming Christ's follower; my old friends 
and companions will ridicule such, a step when 
they hear of it ; " or he might have exclaimed, 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 35 

" I have been a great sinner and am not worthy 
to have the Son of God come under my roof. I 
will mend my ways,*in the hope of being worthy 
to have him come into my house the next time 
he passes by. Ere long I will abandon my office 
and arrange to become one of his disciples." 
Christ made no reply to all this, neither rebuked 
him for his sins or for following a wicked call- 
ing. He met him as he was and said to him, 
without conditions or prerequisites, " To-day I 
must abide in thy house." He met him in tones 
of welcome which melted his hard heart. His 
love penetrated its depth and constrained obe- 
dience. His assurance brought him from the 
tree and quickened his footsteps. He in return 
welcomed the Saviour. Here is a beautiful illus- 
tration of the way men are still made to come 
down from their lofty heights of pride and self- 
righteousness to meet and entertain the lowly 
Saviour. 

The last point to which your attention is in- 
vited is the outward proof of Zaccheus's con- 
version. What was there in his subsequent life 
to show that he was made a child of God 
during this meeting with Jesus? What was 
there in his own personal experience to con- 
vince himself of it? It is not told us what 
happened during the Saviour's stay at his 
house. We do not know what was said to him. 
Nothing is mentioned in regard to his confes- 
sion, the outpouring of his heart, or his ex- 



36 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

pressions of gratitude and love. No record has 
been left of the word of counsel, instruction, 
guidance and consolation which Jesus may have 
given him. All these were private. But we 
are told that he experienced — 

First, feelings of joy. " He made haste, and 
came down, and received him joyfully. 11 A new 
feeling welled up within his soul. He had often 
felt something like real joy in the midst of his 
worldly companions, and in the contemplation 
of the accumulation of his riches. But, to all 
that, there was a serious drawback. It was not 
unmixed with sorrow. But who can describe 
his joy now? Who can fathom its depths, meas- 
ure its heights or tell its breadth? Its source 
was heaven and its flow promised to be peren- 
nial. 

The converted man in the present day knows 
something of the same experience. His heart 
is filled with joy which the world cannot give 
and which it cannot take away. It is unal- 
loyed. 

The second effect of the publican's conver- 
sion was to lead him to make an open ac- 
knowledgment of his sin. " If I have taken 
anything by false accusation." His past life 
comes up at length in its true light. Sin ap- 
pears exceeding sinful. Instead of realizing his 
guilt before he came to the Saviour, he felt 
it in its crushing weight only after he came. 
Not until he heard the melody of heaven in 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 37 

the voice which cried, " Zaccheus, come down," 
did he realize fully the jarring of sin. Not 
until the sunshine of love filled his soul did 
he see the threatening clouds of a life of extor- 
tion; not until the Son of God entered his 
dwelling did he become fully conscious of the 
evils he had committed as a minion of the 
Roman government. 

Something of the same nature must be ex- 
perienced by every one who comes to Christ. 
When the light of the divine Spirit shines upon 
the soul, it is snre to produce a deep sense of 
sin against God and man. Thus it has been in 
every age; when that light fell upon Job he 
exclaimed, "I have heard of thee by the hear- 
ing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 
Wherefore I abhor myself." When it fell upon 
Isaiah, he cried, " Woe is me ! for I am a man of 
unclean lips." When it fell upon Paul, he ex- 
claimed, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
do?" When it fell upon the poor publican, 
he cried, " God be merciful to me a sinner ! " 

Still another effect of Christ's entrance into 
Zaccheus's house was a sense of justice toward 
men. This manifested itself in willingness to 
restore what he had taken by fraud. " I restore 
him fourfold." He does not offer simply the 
value of what he had taken, with the addition 
of one-fifth, which was the utmost the law im- 
posed if the property was voluntarily restored ; 
nor the double, the penalty attached to stolen 



38 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

goods. But, acting under the law of Calvary 
and not under that of Sinai — the law of love 
and not that of justice — he offered to restore it 
on a munificent scale. This is the true prompt- 
ing of a new heart. And something analogous 
to it must be seen in the life of every converted 
man. He must desire to repair the wrong- 
doings of his life as far as practicable. He must 
restore the reputation he may have ruined by 
his slander, he must counteract the baleful in- 
fluence of his bad example, and make up for the 
extortion which he perpetrated through cupidity. 
The last effect of Zaccheus's conversion was 
the exercise of genuine Christian liberality. He 
did not stop with the feeling of joy which he 
experienced, nor with the acknowledgment of 
his sin, nor even with the restitution he made, 
but he passed on without delay to the largest 
alms-giving. Half his fortune went in one dona- 
tion to the poor : " that fortune," as another 
has said, " which he had amassed by measures 
so unscrupulous ; that fortune on which he had 
set his heart; that fortune for which he had sac- 
rificed his good name, his happiness and his im- 
mortal soul." But the entrance of Christ into 
his heart produced therein a radical change. 
He became at once a new man. What things 
formerly were gain he now counted but loss. He 
was more eager in his new life to restore than 
he was in his old to appropriate ; more ready 
to give than he was to get. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 39 

One of the marvels connected with this con- 
version is that, in spite of its suddenness, it 
was most complete. The morning saw Zaccheus 
a man whose name his countrymen could not 
pronounce without contempt, and whose own 
conscience reechoed their accusation, as his con- 
fession testifies. In the morning Christ had pro- 
nounced him a lost man. The evening of the 
same day beheld him rescued from perdition, 
transformed by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, 
made just, truthful and charitable. The palace 
which resounded in the morning with the mirth 
of the extortioner, rang at night with the sweet 
words of the penitent — 

"Amazing grace! how sweet the sound 
That saved a wretch like me ! 
I once was lost, but now am found, 
"Was blind, hut now I see." 



Chapter hi, 



THE CONVERSION OF AN AFFLICTED 
BEGGAR— BARTIMEUS. 



Mark x. 45-52: "And they came to Jericho: pnd as he 
went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of 
people, blind Hartimeus, the son of Timeus, sat by the high- 
way side begging," etc. 

IN looking at the two men brought to Christ 
in the neighborhood of Jericho, we discover 
resemblances and differences in the mode 
and circumstances of their conversion. Both be- 
longed to the chosen people. Both were recog- 
nized by their neighbors as the sons of Abra- 
ham according to the flesh. Consequent^', we 
are safe in saying that both were more or less 
familiar with the law and the prophets, the 
Jewish ritual and the promises concerning the 
coming of Christ. 

Both men were well known in Jericho, but 
for different reasons. The publican, by his 
office, social position and wealth ; and the blind 
man by his father, Timeus, who was a person of 
note for reasons not furnished in the record. 
40 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 41 

The fact that the evangelist states that Barti- 
meus was the son of Tiinens shows that he was 
a man of some distinction among his fellow- 
citizens. 

The two had acquired more or less knowl- 
edge of Jesus, either from the preaching of 
John, or from friends and neighbors who had 
seen and heard him. Both believed him to be 
more than an ordinary man — perhaps a per- 
former of miracles or a prophet, if not the 
promised Messiah. What they had heard of 
him produced a strong desire to see him. 
From infancy the publican had looked on the 
beauties of Jericho and the faces of its citi- 
zens; but Bartimeus had seen neither. Here 
is presented a sad contrast. '• I can fancy 
few sadder sights," says Dr. Guthrie, " than a 
family, parents and children, all blind — a home 
where the flowers have no beauty, where the 
night has no stars, where the morning has no 
blushing dawn, and where the azure sky has 
no blessed sun ; a home where the members 
have never looked on each other's faces, but 
where the blind father sits by a dull fire with 
a blind boy upon his knees, and the sightless 
mother nurses at her breast a sightless babe 
that never gladdened her with his happy smile." 
The chasm between Zaccheus and Bartimeus in 
this respect was as wide as that between the 
east and the west. 

The subject to which your attention is in- 



42 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

vited is " The Conversion of an Afflicted Beg- 
gar — Bartimeus." 

Notice, first, the view which he had been hold- 
ing of his own condition. He thought for years 
that it was utterly hopeless. He may have ac- 
cepted the allegation that Jesus, who was about 
to pass by, had power to heal diseases. He 
might have accepted this as a general truth 
and soliloquized, " Yes, he may have healed 
many kinds of diseases, he may have cured 
serious ailments, he may have even opened the 
eyes of the blind, but I do not believe that 
he has ever opened the eyes of one stone- 
blind, blind for fifty years." He concluded, 
therefore, that his case was peculiar, difficult 
to reach, hopeless. 

He may, on the other hand, have implicitly 
believed all that had been told him of Jesus. 
He may have come to the conclusion that he 
could heal him, if he would; that he could re- 
move the scales from eyes as blind as his, if 
he was only willing to do it. But he was sure 
that he would never come to Jericho. It was 
a den of thieves — a corrupt, God-forsaken cit} r . 
Why should he come there? lie would be de- 
spised of the priests and rejected of the pub- 
licans. That must have been known to him 
since he was a prophet and possibly the Mes- 
siah. He was honored at Nazareth ; he was 
followed by a multitude of admiring people 
along the shores of Galilee ; he was sure to be 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 43 

received with royal honor at Jerusalem. " He 
will not come to Jericho, and I, a poor, afflicted 
beggar, cannot leave home nor cross the coun- 
try in order to meet him. My doom is sealed ! 

" Jericho is a populous, Godless city, and 
Christ is gracious and full of compassion. For 
these reasons he may come to Herod's city. 
But, if he does, he will take the royal road 
and not this obscure path beside which I sit. 
He may open the eyes of those fortunate 
enough to come in his way or who may have 
friends to bring them to his presence. Alas! 
I do not belong to that class. Consequently I 
must keep my old seat by the roadside and be 
contented to let him go, without his blessing, 
even if he pass this waj". There is no hope for 
me! 

' ; Should he come to Jericho and pass my 
waj T , he will not notice me. He is a King, 
not accustomed to speak to beggars ! He is 
high and lifted up, hence he is above looking 
on a blind man by the wayside. He is sur- 
rounded by such a multitude as will render it 
impossible for him to hear my cry. It is vain, 
therefore, to hope for anything better than I 
now enjoy. Blindness and beggary will continue 
to be my unwelcome companions to the end of 
life!" Some such thoughts as these probably 
passed through the mind of Bartimeus after he 
heard of Jesus. 

We often hear something like this from the 



44 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

lips of those who are spiritually blind. They 
unduly emphasize their unworthiness and lost 
condition. They sometimes aver that the class 
to which they belong is so uninviting that the 
Son of God will not visit them. Should 
he have pity on any, it will be on those 
who are in a favorable position, or posses- 
sion of friends who have influence with him. 
He will not, he cannot condescend to look 
on any one so lowly and so far gone as they 
are! What a strange view to take of the 
Friend of sinners ! What ignorance of the char- 
acter of his love! What an erroneous con- 
ception of his infinite compassion! The ground 
of his love does not lie in us, nor in anything 
about us. He himself is the cause and rea- 
son, the motive and end of his love for our 
race. If we fail to grasp this thought we have 
not learned the half of the fulness of Christ's 
love. His is a love which has no motive but 
itself; a love which is eternal, having existed 
in the divine heart before there were creatures 
toward whom it could flow ; a love that is its 
own guarantee, its own cause, safe and un- 
shaken, with all the firmness of his unchange- 
able nature, unaffected by our transgressions, 
deeper than our ill deserts, more ancient than 
the hills, partaking of the essence of the co- 
equal and coeternal Son of God. 

It is as true of the Son as of the Father 
that he is love ; hence, before any considera- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 45 

tion of what we need — deeper and more blessed 
than all thoughts of compassion which spring 
from the feeling of human distress and the 
sight of human misery — lies this thought of an 
affection which does not require the presence 
of sorrow to evoke it, which does not wait for 
the touch of men's fingers to flow out, but 
which is in its very nature everlasting , in its 
very nature infinite, in its very nature a stream 
which pours out the flood of its measureless 
fulness upon the heads of the poorest as well 
as of the richest of our fallen race. This is 
wondrous love ! 

Under a painful consciousness of his inabil- 
ity to comprehend the length and breadth of 
Christ's compassion, or to do anything toward 
receiving his sight, Bartiineus lifted the loud 
cry, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on 
me." The selfish disciples checked him, chidei 
him, and even tried to stop him. But he cried 
the more ; for it was his first, perhaps his only 
chance. He must remain blind till the day of 
his death if he cannot now catch the ear and 
arrest the progress of the great Physician as 
he is passing by. The obstructions in his way 
only made him to cry the more a great deal, 
" Son of David, have mercy on me." 

Notice, secondly, the means Bartimeus took 
to find relief. 

He looked for it in the right place. He did 
not, like the woman in the gospel, spend his 



46 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 

all on physicians who failed to afford any relief. 
He went not after quacks or magicians to open 
his eyes. He did not make his appeal to the 
disciples to intercede for him. He did all he 
could to catch the ear of the Great Plrvsician. 
Quitting man, he turned to God. Abandoning 
human expedients, he resorted to divine grace. 
Relinquishing all hopes of finding relief in 
earthly means, he turned his darkened eyeballs 
toward Jesus of Nazareth, who was passing by. 

He looked for relief at the right time. 
Happy man, who hit on the nick of time! It 
ought not to be said, perhaps, that any time 
could be a wrong time, but Jesus had not 
been that v?ny before and he was not likely 
to pass again that way. This perhaps was not 
known to the blind beggar, but it was enough 
for him to know that he might not come again 
that waj T , and that even if he should he himself 
might not be there to meet him or to receive 
his blessing. He was, therefore, determined to 
make the best of his present opportunity. 

He looked for relief in the right manner. 
He plead no Scripture promises, for he knew 
of none that met his case. He sought nothing 
to commend him to Christ, for there was noth- 
ing within his reach that could do so. He 
came in faith, believing in Christ's power to do 
what he asked. He came with prayer upon his 
lips. He did not offer a long, or a carefully 
worded one. It was a simple cry of distress : 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 47 

" Son of David, have mercy on me." Though 
brief, it was direct, intelligent, importunate; it 
recognized in the Son of David divinity as well 
as humanity, consequently, the possession of 
power to heal him. It was uttered in faith : 
" Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me." 

The greatest hindrance to the salvation of 
this man came from Christ's own disciples. 
They did all they could to stop his cry, not 
because they were indifferent to his condition, 
but because they were unwilling to lose aught 
of the time or the words of Jesus, or because 
they doubted his sincerity in crying for aid. 
No matter which of these reasons influenced 
their conduct, it was unworthy of men who 
were themselves saved by grace. If they were 
indifferent to the sad condition of a blind beggar 
sitting by the wayside, it showed a state of 
heart unworthy the disciples of the compassion- 
ate Saviour. If they were so anxious to hear 
all that fell from his lips that they could not 
afford to let him speak words of healing to a 
blind beggar, they went beyond what was be- 
coming in Christ's followers. If they doubted 
the sincerity of the man in crying after the 
wonder-worker, they were uncharitable. 

Here we discover the great difference between 
the thought concerning sinful creatures which 
is natural to a holy being and that concerning 
them which is natural to a half-hearted, self- 
righteous man. The one is repulsion, certainly 



48 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

indifference; the other is pity. Jesus knew 
what the blind beggar was, and consequently he 
halted on the road and commanded him to be 
brought to him. What did his knowledge of 
him lead to? To reject him? To chide 
him ? To hurl at him his withering rebukes ? 
No! It made him more gentle and tender; it 
added new brightness to his face and softness 
to the tones of his voice as he said to him, 
'•What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? 
Thy sius are truly great, but my love is greater. 
Thine ill deserts are as the great sea, but my 
love is as the everlasting mountains, whose 
roots go down far beneath its deepest places." 

What lessons of encouragement are here 
taught the spiritually blind? They, like Barti- 
meus, must look for relief in the right place. 
They should resort to no earthly expedients to 
remove their blindness; they should believe in 
no quack or magician to render them aid ; 
for all these are but deceivers. They should 
not content themselves with consulting parents, 
teachers or even tender-hearted pastors, but 
should go directly to the Great Fli3'sician. 
They should forthwith utter the cry, " Lord, 
save, I perish." 

They must seek him also at the right time. 
"Now is the accepted time," and not when the 
Saviour comes again, next month or next 3-ear. 
They must let the uncertainty as to whether he 
will come again or not lead them to cry the 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 49 

more, " Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us; 
have mercy on us to-day, now, this moment!" 

They must furthermore seek him in the right 
manner. They must exercise faith in his power 
and say to him : " If thou wilt thou canst 
make us clean." They must not depend on an}\ 
thing of their own, but cry to him for help, 
cry quickly, cry intelligently , cry importunately. 

If the disciples' hearts should be cold, we 
are assured that Jesus's is tender. If professed 
Christians should be selfish, we are told that 
Jesus is self-denying. If men should be suspi- 
cious of our motives, we learn that the Searcher 
of hearts knows them and will freely forgive. 
His infinite loving-kindness does not turn away 
from us because we are sinners, but remains 
hovering about us, with wooing invitations and 
gentle drawings, in order to bring us to re- 
pentance and open a fountain of genuine affec- 
tion in our dry and dusty hearts. 

" Sin," says some one, " is but a cloud, be- 
hind which the everlasting sun lies in all its 
power and warmth, unaffected by the cloud ; 
and the light of his love will yet pierce 
through with its merciful shafts, bringing heal- 
ing in their beams and dispersing all the 
pitchy darkness of man's transgressions. And 
as the mists gather themselves up and roll 
away, dissipated by the heat of the sun in the 
upper sky, and reveal the fair earth below, so 
the love of Christ shines in, melting the mists 



50 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

and dissipating the fog, thinning it off in its 
thickest places, and at last piercing its way 
right through it down to the heart of the 
man who has been lying beneath the oppres- 
sion of this thick darkness, and who thought 
that the fog was the sky and that there was 
no sun above." 

Notice, thirdly, the response Bartimeus re- 
ceived from the passer-by. It is impossible 
to see this in all its grandeur without call- 
ing to mind who Christ was, whither he was 
going, and what was awaiting him at Jerusa- 
lem. He was the son of David, the promised 
Messiah, the Eternal Son of God who had 
created all things by the word of his power; 
he was at this moment displaying in his life and 
actions the attributes of divinity, and attending 
to the affairs of ten thousand worlds. He was 
on his way to Calvary, where he was soon to 
be offered up like his illustrious type on Mo- 
riah; he was to drink of the cup of divine 
wrath, struggle with the powers of darkness, 
suffer the hidings of the Father's face, and die 
upon the cross amid the insults of an infuriated 
mob. 

Under such circumstances what could ar- 
rest his attention? What impede his prog- 
ress ? What could call his mind away from 
these great events? Would the destiny of 
one person be sufficiently important to gain a 
thought of his at such a moment? Would 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 51 

angels or cherubim be allowed to intrude at 
this time? Could there be a voice in heaven 
or on earth able to catch his ear at such a 
juncture? "Was there a being in the universe 
bold enough to approach him under the shadow 
of his approaching sufferings ? Yes, one, and 
perhaps only one. Hark! "Son of David, have 
mercy on me ! " Who is that man ? An afflicted 
mortal. A blind beggar, obtruding his petty 
sorrows on the heart that is gathering to 
itself the woes of a world. What rashness ! 
In this light we should be indulgent toward 
the disciples' conduct. Will the voice of such 
an one be heeded ? Will the war-chariot rush- 
ing into battle turn aside for a worm ? Will 
the swell of the sea, breaking on the shore, 
be checked by a straying bird ? Shall not 
heaven and earth join the multitude in bidding 
Bartimeus hold his peace? If they do they will 
betray a mistaken view of the heart of Jesus. 
If they decide that by so doing they are hon- 
oring him who came to seek and to save the 
lost, they will be put to shame by his gracious 
act. He turned at the beggar's cry and looked 
with compassion on his blind eyes. He " stood 
still " and cast upon Bartimeus a look of infin- 
ite benignity. 

" Oh, when," asks some one, " did Christ ever 
refuse to stay at the call of a distressed 
sinner? Nay, if he stayed at the gates of 
Jericho, when can he refuse? Is he not the 



52 NEW TESTAMENT COM VERSIONS. 

same, yesterday, to-day, and forever? Has the 
love which death and the grave could not 
quench perished in his exaltation? Did he 
not bring it with him from the throne? And is 
it not an everlasting love ? Oh, needy sinners, 
he cannot refuse your cry. ' Jesus, Son of 
David, have mercy on me' finds its way through 
adoring ranks of saints and urges and constrains 
his blessed heart. He cannot resist it." 

Christ not only listened to the cry of the 
blind beggar, but he called for him. The 
three evangelists differ in their statement of 
this act. Some claim that they find here a jar- 
ring note, but to our ear there is nothing but 
the harmony of heaven. Listen ! Matthew 
says, "he called;" Mark, "he commanded him 
to be called;" and Luke, "he commanded him 
to be brought unto him." These are but pro- 
gressive steps from blindness to sight, from 
death to life. Bartimeus was savingly called by 
Christ; he was instrumentally called by men; 
and he was efficiently called by the helping 
hand which guided him to the presence of 
Jesus. This is indeed effectual calling. God 
calls you, dear reader, to eternal life. His ser- 
vants are commissioned to call you ; they come 
now with their loving invitation. Will 3*011 heed 
them ? All the aid you need in order to come 
is accessible, freely offered you. Hands are 
ready to guide, tongues are willing to instruct, 
and means are within reach to strengthen you. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 53 

Having come to the Saviour in obedience 
to his call, Bartimeus was asked, "What wilt 
thou that I should do unto thee ? " What 
is your request? Christ well knew what he 
wished, but he let him tell his own story. 
He said, " Lord, that I might receive my sight." 
"And immediately he received his sight." Upon 
asking, the blessing was bestowed. The blind 
man immediately saw. A new universe now 
burst upon his sight. All about, around and. 
within him seemed new. The great sun, the 
full moon, and the million stars, with all the 
beauty of air, cloud, trees, flowers and hills 
came to the blind man as he opened his e}'es. 
But the first object that struck his illumined 
e3 T eballs was the Opener. Though brightly 
shone the sun and fair seemed the. Jordan val- 
ley, though gorgeous appeared the foliage of 
the sycomore and the acacia, all new and won- 
drous sights to him, yet they were not the first 
objects that he saw. The renewed faculty of 
vision was first exercised on him by whom the 
sight had been bestowed, and upon him all 
the wealth within its power was cheerfully lav- 
ished. 

Who can depict the glowing views which 
break upon the vision of the newly-converted 
soul ? A new heaven and a new earth ; new 
objects to live for, new beauties in life ; new 
fountains of delight, and new sources of con- 
solation. Songs in the night and stars of 



54 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

promise; the light of morning with its fragrant 
breath and the singing of birds; health for the 
sick, restoration to the banished, pardon to the 
doomed and life to the dying ; love, joy, peace, 
hope, crowns, waving palms and blessed visions 
of eternal glory come now to sight. 

Notice, lastly, two of the results of Christ's 
gracious act in opening the blind man's eyes. 
He followed Jesus in the way. He did not 
say, " Having received my sight, I shall hence- 
forth be able to take care of myself" His grat- 
itude was too great for that. The sunflower 
could more readily hide its face and turn aside 
from the light of day than the eyes of poor 
Bartimeus could allow Jesus to go out of his 
sight. Those newly opened eyes looked after 
him whithersoever he went. They followed his 
steps and waited for further manifestations of 
his glory. Bartimeus carried out the command, 
" If any man love me, let him follow me." 
Christ's sheep hear his voice and follow him. 
It is hardly credible that he has very many 
sheep who refuse long to do his bidding. The 
Psalmist does not speak for himself alone, but 
for all true believers, when he says, "My soul 
followeth hard after thee." It was the salvation 
of Caleb and Joshua in the day of wrath, and 
it is recorded as their glory that they followed 
the Lord fully. It is the only path of safety, 
and the only one which stops not short of 
the heavenly Canaan. Following Jesus is the 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 55 

antidote of all error, all doubt and all despon- 
dency ; it insures soundness in doctrine, growth 
in grace, and comforting, perpetual and life- 
giving illumination of soul. 

Bartimeus not only followed Jesus but in 
addition to it, he " glorified God. 11 The piety 
of the early Church was of the frank, outspoken 
kind. None were ashamed of their King. ]S T one 
shrank from being regarded as his subjects. 
What bursts of joy were heard from their 
lips, what loud thanksgivings, like the swell of 
the sea, were those which found utterance in 
the well-known words, " Come and hear, all 
ye that fear God, and I will declare what he 
hath done for my soul. I will bless the Lord 
at all times : his praise shall continually be in 
my mouth. magnify the Lord with me, and 
let us exalt his name together ! " Let all who 
trust that they are God's children follow this 
example of the Psalmist. 



Chapter iv. 



THE CONVERSION OF A TIMID AND LONELY 

INVALID-THE WOMAN WITH THE 

ISSUE OF BLOOD. 



Mark v. 25-34 : "And a certain woman, which had an 
issue of blood twelve years," etc. 

LIGHT is a great revealer. It discloses 
to the eye that which, without it, would 
remain concealed. It brings out the 
good and the bad, the comely and the repul- 
sive. It renders visible the tints of the cloud 
and the blue of the sea, the curve of the 
brook and the contour of the mountain. 

Light not only reveals what without it 
would remain unseen, but it brings out of 
their hiding places objects not known to 
exist. It extracts odor from the rose and 
fragrance from the violet; it draws poison out 
of a harmless weed, and lifts the noisome pest- 
ilence from the fetid pool ; it calls the bird out 
of its nest and the wild beast from its lair. 

The same thing is witnessed also in the spir- 
itual world. Christ himself is its light. His 
56 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 57 

coming was marked by the appearance of virtue 
and vice never before known ; of beauties and 
deformities the outlines of which were seen by 
no man's eyes until then. Every circuit made 
by the Sun of Righteousness disclosed the 
healing virtue of his beams, the genial nature 
of his presence, and the sweet beauty of his 
light. It moreover disclosed the deformity of 
sinful life, the foul diseases to which our fallen 
nature is heir, the hidden iniquity which sleeps 
in the human breast, and the poisonous miasma 
that rises from concealed sinks of corruption. 

As in the days of his flesh, Christ still 
draws out the unknown and neglected sons 
and daughters of sorrow in order to receive 
his blessings. Seated in glory, he is the great 
High Priest who can be touched with the 
feelings of our infirmities ! The Bible tells 
us that he looks down upon us with more 
than the compassion which he manifested when 
living upon earth. " His garment," says some 
one, " wide spread and dropping low, is near 
our hand, and he feels a sinner's and a suf- 
ferer's touch upon his throne, with circle on 
circle of glory gathering round him, and 
saints and angels thronging in. He came 
down that, in his nearness to our misery, we 
might learn to know his heart, and he rose that 
we might be assured of his power to help and 
to heal." 

The subject here suggested is the Conversion 



58 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

of a Timid and Lonely Invalid — the Woman 
with the Issue of Blood. 

Xotice, first, her condition before she touched 
the hem of Christ's garment. She is repre- 
sented as a person whose life had a dark back- 
ground of loneliness, ignorance and disease, 
that set forth Christ's compassion in bold relief. 
It is probable that she was unknown to the 
people among whom she lived, unknown to the 
multitude who followed the Saviour, and un- 
known to him, except as she was one of the 
sheep whom his Father had given him to re- 
claim. She ma}- have shrunk from society on 
account of her disease, or may have been ren- 
dered unable by her malady to take an active 
part in society, or may have evaded her neigh- 
bors in consequence of her condition. What- 
ever may have been the cause of her loneli- 
ness, the fact remained. When she came out 
of her obscure abode and mingled with the 
crowd who followed the Saviour on his way 
to heal the daughter of Jairus, she keenly 
realized her condition. No one hailed her by 
name. Xo one recognized her by a nod. 
No one encouraged her by a kind word. 
Even the Saviour did not accost her. Xo 
one seemed to understand her eagerness, know 
her heart's longing, or appreciate her motive 
in pushing through the multitude. She had 
been lonely in her own home, and she is now 
lonelv in a crowd. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 59 

She was not only lonely, but ignorant. 
From not knowing the Scriptures and the 
power of God, we may reasonably conclude that 
she was ignorant even of common things con- 
cerning the Christ. Be that as it may, she en- 
tertained some dim and confused views of his 
power to heal. She thought of him, possibly, as 
a worker of miracles, who, like the magicians of 
the day, cured by material means. She knew 
nothing of his divine will, of his infinite knowl- 
edge, or of his pitying love. She felt that, if 
she could but touch the hem of his garment, 
the repository, as she thought, of his healing 
virtue, she would be made whole. And she 
sought to obtain this without his knowledge 
or agency. What ignorance of the Saviour's 
character and of his way of working ! What 
misconception of the relation existing between 
his person and his healing blessings ! What 
low, superstitious views of the salvation of the 
soul ! 

She was, moreover, the victim of an incurable 
disease. We read that she was suffering from 
the issue of blood. Like the lepros}^, this dis- 
ease afforded those afflicted with it no hope of 
securing a cure by human expedients. And yet, 
that indisposition to give up and accept of her 
lot, led her to try all the physicians she heard 
of in the expectation that some of them might 
succeed in removing it. For twelve long 3 r ears 
she hoped against hope, suffered from the treat- 



60 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

ments to which she was subjected, and spent all 
she had in seeking what she might have known 
to be impossible. 

This is not all ! She was ceremonially un- 
clean, and consequently debarred the privilege 
of going to the only place where she could rea- 
sonably expect comfort. She was not allowed to 
enter the courts of God's house. Her heart was 
not permitted to swell with joy in connection 
with the Jewish feasts. She was obliged to 
feel that she had no part or lot in the inheri- 
tance of Jacob. How trying to a true daughter 
of Abraham ! Doubl} T trying it must have been 
to one who had all her days attached even 
superstitious importance to the outward rites 
and ceremonies of the temple. 

Long before she met the Saviour she had 
sunk into a state of helplessness and despair. 
How could it have been otherwise? She was 
lonely and without a relative to care for her! 
She was ignorant, and often haunted by supersti- 
tious notions ! She had become convinced that 
her disease was incurable and had no means of 
support during the remaining days of her life. 
Who would not feel despondent under such an 
accumulation of evils? 

Is not this a picture of thousands of men 
and women in our own day ? Many feel that 
no one cares for their souls. Not a friend 
has taken them by the hand or said to them, 
" Be of good cheer." They go to God's house 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 61 

and come from it without recognition. Even 
the minister fails often to reach their case from 
the pulpit, or to aid them by a call at their 
homes. In many cases, they are ignorant of 
spiritual truth and the way of salvation. 
They have never understood thoroughly the way 
of life. They have turned to the world for the 
cure of their spiritual malady, and received no 
response. They ought to have known that it 
furnishes no remedy for the diseases of the 
soul. It has no balm for a wounded heart. 
It is a broken cistern which for a thirsty one 
holds no water. It promises, but it never per- 
forms. It bruises, but it never heals. Sinners 
have no share in the blessings promised to 
God's people. They are strangers to the joy 
of salvation. They are without hope and with- 
out God in the world. No light of truth shines 
within their souls, telling of sin put away and of 
peace proclaimed through Christ's blood. There 
is no salvation lighting up the heart with 
love, quickening it with devotion, and mak- 
ing God's service a delight. All is dark- 
ness and uncertainty 5 fear and dread, bondage 
and restraint, dreariness and death. The memo- 
rial over the skeleton remains of a bishop, 
scratched by his own hand in one of the dun- 
geons of Rome, is the only true superscription 
to put over the brightest and best the world 
can hold out to them : " No rest here but in 
Christ." 



62 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

Notice, secondly, what prompted this woman 
to turn to Christ? There are many things 
connected with her life not revealed to us. 
We are not told how she learned that Jesus 
was to come her way ; how she found that there 
was virtue in the hem of his garment ; how she 
became convinced that he could do more for 
her than all her physicians. There is a thick 
veil thrown over the whole of this. We cannot 
affirm that any friend of Jesus had told her, 
because her conduct was not that of a person 
well informed regarding his character. Besides, 
repeated disappointments, like those she had 
so often experienced, would have cast strong 
doubts on a mere report. An agent had been 
at work in her heart, of which she was probably 
unconscious, and of whose work she was not able 
to offer any explanation. The Spirit of God had 
been preparing the vessel for the virtue that 
was to be poured into it. 

Here is disclosed a phase of conversion worthy 
of our careful notice, viz., the preparatory work 
of the Spirit, before the sinner is conscious of 
it, producing contrition, the lifting of the e} T e, 
the falling of the penitential tear, involving per- 
haps years of providential dealings by which the 
soul emerges at length from darkness to light. 
Who can trace it? Where is its record? There 
is a veil thrown over it. The soul's conversion 
is like the volcanic eruption which, though un- 
seen by mortal eye, has been little by little gath- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 63 

ering its elements for one grand explosion, until 
it makes itself heard and felt. What is called 
a sudden conversion is frequently sudden only 
in the sense that the coming out is sudden. 
The work had been secretly going on within for 
3 T ears under the eye and agency of the Spirit. 

Not only the Spirit had been working quietly 
within, but the Saviour himself, like a great 
magnet, had come near enough to draw the 
soul to his feet. " Faith," says some one, " goes 
straight to Christ like a driven arrow, with 
grounds for going that it cannot tell to others, 
or tell even to itself. There is an intuition 
which has reason in its heart, and which will 
be able one day to bring them out full and 
clear — a groping half-blind which will yet find 
enlightened eyes — a sense of misery, of sin, 
urged to him by a divine necessity. ' Lord, 
to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of 
eternal life.' " 

There is nothing here out of analogy with 
what is perfectly familiar to us in the natural 
world. Who can tell why the needle points to 
the pole? Why the buds feel their way to the 
warm breath of spring ? Why the flowers turn 
to the sunlight ? The only answer which can be 
given is that the} T are made for it. Souls, in 
like manner, are made for Christ. He created 
them, loved them, died for them, and, when he 
comes near, they feel his drawing power and 
cannot keep away from him or live without him. 



64 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

The reason of this is not hard to find. It is 
Christ's whisper in the heart, " My sheep hear 
my voice." The cure began with this woman 
before she had touched the hem of his garment. 
Christ's arm guided her to himself. His 
strength sustained her in her weakness. His 
lips whispered, " Come unto me, all }-e that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest." " Some day, we shall find that Christ 
w r as with us in all our good purposes, in all our 
choosing and chosen hours ; Christ was with 
us but we knew it not. Nevertheless our heart 
burned within us while he talked with us 
by the way. This gives the assurance of final 
success to those who long for the healing of the 
soul, for where that soul feels its need of 
Christ, it is Christ who is there, leading it to 
himself." 

A striking illustration of this is afforded in 
the case of a deaf boy who was brought to 
Christ during a season of religious interest. 
He could not hear any thing said try the 
preacher. He could not enter into the spirit 
of the prayers. He could not throw his soul 
into the sweet incense of praise, and 3'et he was 
most attentive on the service; he was interested 
in the work going on, he was at times moved to 
tears, and was finally converted. With others, 
he applied for a place in the church, and was 
accepted by the session. Strange to say, his ex- 
perience was identical with that of his friends 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEKSIONS. 65 

who conlcl both see and hear! Like thein, he 
was taught of God. Heavenly nielody got some- 
how into his deaf ears, and heaven's glory 
shone upon his blind eyes. The Spirit worked 
faith within him, which drew his whole being to 
the feet of Jesus who was passing by. 

Xotice, thirdly, how she presented herself to 
the Saviour. In general terms, it may be said 
that she presented herself just as she was. She 
was alone, and consequently had not the prayers 
of relatives to depend upon, nor the interces- 
sion of neighbors to look to, nor the instruc- 
tions of a teacher to follow. She had spent her 
all on physicians, and therefore she could bring 
no gift to the altar. She had shed no tears of 
repentance, consequently she could not point to 
them as her precious jewels. She had not kept 
the whole law of God, and hence she could not 
present any righteousness as a plea. She offered 
no prayer for mercy, and therefore could not 
lean on it. What, then, did she do ? She drew 
near enough to touch the hem of Christ's gar- 
ment. There is something striking in this. She 
longed for a sense of nearness to Christ. Her 
heart pressed close to the Healer as a sick child 
to its mother's breast. This was done in obe- 
dience to an instinct of her soul which the 
Saviour himself had sanctioned. 

She not only drew nigh him, but touched the 
hem of his garment. She did it with fear 
and trembling. She durst not appeal to his 



6Q NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

heart, for she was ignorant of its feelings 
toward her; she shrank from meeting his eye, 
because she knew not bnt it was full of terror. 
She resolved to let him pass by, and then 
quietly put forth her trembling hand to touch the 
hem of his garment. At that moment cross 
currents of emotion agitated her soul. She had 
doubts, yet she believed that Christ could do 
her good ; she was afraid lest she might be 
rebuked and driven back, yet she became 
bold enough by her very despair to try the 
experiment; she was too diffident to cast her- 
self on his pity, yet she had too much faith 
not to try his healing virtue. In this conflict 
of hope and despair, she stretched forth her 
hand and touched the hem of his garment. 

There is here not only an approach and a 
touch, but a true exercise of faith. She would 
not have come near the Saviour, if she had not 
had some confidence in him ; she would not have 
touched the hem of his garment, if she had not 
believed that there was in it some healing virtue, 
but oh, how weak, how selfish, how groveling 
was her faith ! It was but a mustard seed. It 
had in it scarcely any knowledge of Christ's 
true character. She looked upon him, perhaps, 
more as a magician than as the Redeemer of 
the world. Yet, she knew enough to approach 
him. 

Her faith was as selfish as it was weak. She 
sought health ; but did not care for the Healer. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 67 

She wanted his blessing, but did not feel dis- 
posed to honor him as the giver. She would 
probably have been contented to have had noth- 
ing to do with him, if she could only steal 
some healing virtue. She felt but a little grati- 
tude toward him who, she hoped, was uncon- 
scious of the good she had derived from her 
touch. 

Her faith was groveling as well as weak and 
selfish. It was scarce more than the faith of 
a patient in a skillful physician, the faith of a 
client in an advocate, the faith of a beggar in a 
kind friend, yet it was accepted of God as suffi- 
cient to save. 

The path to Christ is here beautifully set 
forth. Men must come to him like the poor 
woman in the text. It is so plain that even a 
wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err 
therein. Trust in the prayers and intercessions 
of friends must be relinquished ; reliance upon 
interviews with pastors or parents, leaning on 
our own understanding, looking to human ex- 
pedients, trust in penances, prayers, rounds of 
religious duties, tears and church ordinances, 
confidence in our own efforts, charitable deeds 
or kind dispositions — all these must be relin- 
quished. Trust in Christ himself is the only 
way. None will ever obtain Christ's blessing 
without it. When the landscape is cloudy, 
when the sky is overcast, when the stream is 
dry, when the pitcher is broken at the cistern, 



63 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

and every bud, blossom, flower and leaf is seared 
and frost-bitten, then the sinner must follow 
Christ and strive to touch the hem of his gar- 
ment. 

All must come nigh to him, touch the hem 
of his garment, and exercise faith in his saving 
power. None are required to have the faith of 
Abraham, the ardor of Peter, or the love of 
John. A conviction that this is needed is one 
of the causes of men's hesitation in coming to 
Christ. They feel that without this their faith 
is not genuine, or complete, and hence conclude 
that it will not save them. Even the best of 
Christians are often tried in this way. Their 
ideal perfection is a faith that shall always be un- 
broken and undarkened by the slightest shadow 
of doubt. But the reality of experience does 
not tally with this. 

" May there not be," says some one, " an 
inner heart and centre of true trust, with a 
nebulous environment of doubt, through which 
the nucleus shall gradually send its attractive 
and consolidating power, and turn it too into 
firm substance ? May there not be a germ, in- 
finitesimal, yet with a real life throbbing in its 
microscopic minuteness and destined to be a 
great tree with all the fowls of the air lodging 
in its branches ? May there not be hid in a 
heart a principle of action which is obviously 
marked out for supremac}', though it has not 
yet risen to sovereign power and manifestation 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. b\) 

in either the inward or outward being ? Where 
do we learn that faith must be complete in 
order to be genuine? 1, may begin with desir- 
ing the blessing rather than the Christ. It must 
end with desiring him more than all besides, 
and with utterly losing self in his infinite love. 
Its starting point may well be, ' Save, Lord, or 
I perish.' Its goal must be, 'I live, jet not I, 
but Christ liveth in me.' " 

There is no faith so feeble to which Christ 
fails to respond. The most ignorant, self-regard- 
ing, timid trust ma} r unite the soul to the world's 
Redeemer. To desire under these circumstances 
is to have, and whosoever will may take of the 
water of life freely. If 3*011 but cry to him, 
though he may have passed by, he will halt. If 
you come trusting yet doubting, he will forgive 
the doubt, and confirm the trust. If yon come 
to him knowing nothing more than that you are 
full of sin, which none can forgive save Christ, 
he will meet }*ou. If }*ou put out a tremulous 
hand to touch the hem of his garment, if you 
sincerely believe that he has healing balm, it 
will be according to your faith. 

Notice, lastly, the way this woman was 
brought to a full knowledge of Christ. From 
diffidence, enfeebled health, or shame on account 
of her malady, she expected to steal awa} T from 
him unnoticed, as she hoped she had come to 
him. But she was forced to face the thronging 
multitude, and to tell her sad story. This gave 



70 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

her courage. In a moment she leaped from 
timidity to boldness; stretched out her hand a 
tremulous invalid ready to hide in any corner 
in order to escape notice, but in a moment after 
she knelt at Jesus' feet and confessed him before 
the world as her personal Redeemer. 

You who are really saved are trying perhaps 
to keep your salvation a secret. Against all 
the instincts of your new nature you wish to 
shut up the fire which is burning in j*our spirit, 
to seal your lips in silence, and to trust 3-our 
love to concealment. Let the question put to 
the woman in the text arrest your attention. 
Come back, why are you turning away ? Christ 
has done his part, why will you not do yours ? 
You owe your soul to him ; why do you not 
say so ? You have not been ashamed to accept 
his blessing ; why should you be ashamed to 
own it? It is a dishonorable thing to steal it. 
It is not worthy of your manhood to accept a 
benefit and refuse to give credit for it to the 
benefactor. 

The confession of Christ not only imparted 
boldness but peace also to the timid convert. 
She came trembling at his word, for though 
cured, her mind was not yet at rest; because, 
though she had exercised faith, she had not as 
yet openly called upon his name. Faith secured 
the cure, profession of faith was to bring the 
rest. She knew that it was not right to carry 
off the blessing in a furtive manner. She was 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 71 

not satisfied with herself, her soul was not at 
rest, her conscience made her tremble at the 
Saviour's voice. Bat when she acknowledged 
the mercy by open praise, he said unto her, 
" Daughter, be of good comfort, go iu peace." 
He had withheld the expected peace to this 
moment because until now she had not done his 
will ; he had withheld it until now, because she 
had not exercised a full faith in his word. In 
the act of professing Christ, however, her faith 
was strengthened. It forthwith rose to a higher 
point than it had ever reached before and 
henceforth trusted Christ not only as the Healer 
of her body, but also as the Saviour of her 
soul. 



Chapter v. 



THE CONVERSION OF A DISREPUTABLE 

VILLAGER-THE WOMAN OF 

SAMARIA. 



John iv. 13-15: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall 
thirst again : but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall uive 
him shall be iu him a well of water springing up into everlast- 
ing life." 

IX this chapter is found a fine photograph set- 
ting forth with astonishing accuracy every 
particular of the scene at Sychar. In 
style and finish, if not in minuteness of de- 
tail, it stands almost alone. " It is not," says 
one commentator, " a monument composed of 
an aggregate of stones, but, like the patriarch's 
pillar at Bethel, a glorious monolith — its hiero- 
glyphics the riches of redeeming love and 
mercy." It is a master exhibition of Christ's 
condescension and readiness to forgive. 

The subject suggested by it is the Conversion 
of a Disreputable Villager — the Woman of 
Samaria. 

72 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 73 

Notice, first, the place of her abode. This 
is called Shechem, Sychar, or in modern times, 
Nablous. It was not an inviting place. Though 
associated in early times with the pitching of 
Abraham's tent ; with the purchase of a burying 
place by Jacob ; with the reading of the curses 
and the blessings by the Levites, and with the 
resting place of Joseph's bones, yet it had by 
this time acquired an unenviable reputation. It 
was one of the cities which belonged to Jero- 
boam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 
Its name had been changed to Sychar, meaning 
drunken or foolish, on account of the wicked- 
ness of its citizens. Jesus afterwards forbade 
his disciples to go to any of the cities of the 
Samaritans. Nevertheless, he went there now 
himself; thus rising above dispensational bar- 
riers and overstepping the limitations of his 
mission, in order to take pity on one of that 
lost race. 

From among the vicious of this place the 
Saviour had resolved to gather some trophies 
of redeeming grace. He concluded that he must 
show even there the omnipotence of that love 
which was to change the lion into a lamb, the 
outcast into a child, and the alien into an heir. 
He must plant some trees of righteousness at 
the foot of the Mount of Curses, and preserve 
a remnant of the God-forsaken Samaritans. Ja- 
cob's well must send forth richer blessings than 
the water it furnished the Shechemites. 



74 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

Notice, secondly, Christ's meeting a disrepu- 
table woman of the place. These two persons 
form almost the sole actors in this memorable 
scene. They were as different from each other 
as light and darkness, and } r et fellowship 
sprang up between them. They were as far from 
each other morally and spiritually as the poles of 
the earth, and yet they were brought together by 
a mysterious spiritual power. They were mem- 
bers of two antagonistic nations, and yet their 
national prejudices now melted like snowflakes 
in the midday sun. They were devotees of 
rival religions, and yet the worst rivalry yielded 
at this time to peace and concord. 

The more conspicuous of the two of course is 
the weary stranger, who sat on Jacob's well. 
Here you catch a full view of the Saviour's 
humanity. You can see the dust of the road 
clinging to his sandals, and the large beads of 
sweat standing on his brow. You can read 
weariness in his limbs and heaviness in his eyes. 
You can feel that that hungry and thirsty one, 
who flings himself on the grass or sits on the 
masonry beside the well, is bone of your bone 
and flesh of your flesh. 

There is a world of comfort in all this. 
Christ could have called the ravens to bring 
him food, and the clouds to distil of their con- 
tents to quench his thirst. lie might have 
turned the stones of the valley into bread, and 
opened fountains of water on the rocky sides 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 75 

of Ebal and Gerizim ; he might have summoned 
angels to minister to his wants, but he preferred 
asking a poor woman of Sychar to do it. He 
was willing to put himself under obligation to 
one who was despised by his people on account 
of her birth, life and religion. Here is true 
humanity. Kindness and heartfelt sympathy 
lay beneath that heaving heart ; tenderness and 
love were shrouded in the soul of that weary 
man ; grace and mercy were blended most beau- 
tifully in that face wrinkled with care. 

Our Saviour to-day wears in glory the same 
human form. He is changed as to his out- 
ward appearance, but not as to his heart's inner 
workings. The weary pilgrim who cast him- 
self on the well at Sychar is enthroned amid 
his redeemed ones in heaven. The divine Shep- 
herd who is to-day leading his flocks to living 
fountains is, in the sympathies of his glorified 
manhood, the same Saviour who sat on Jacob's 
well. When the cries of the tried and tempted 
of earth reach his ears, they receive the loving 
response of a human heart. 

There is not only humanity, but humility 
displayed in this incident. Though a man, wearj^ 
with travel, yet he might have shared the feel- 
ing of his race in despising a Samaritan. He 
might have given her a shekel of silver for the 
cup of water, and thereby put her under obliga- 
tion to him, but instead of that, he asked of her 
a favor, showing thereby that he did not despise 



76 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

her on account of her poverty, religions con- 
nections, or manner of life. There is no surer 
way of putting ourselves on equality with our 
fellow-men than by asking of them a favor. If 
we would touch the heart of the humble and 
cast down, if we would win the confidence and 
sympathies of the lowly, we must condescend 
to ask of them a service. Our gifts to them 
lead them to feel the distance existing between 
us, but their gifts to us cause them to feel that 
they stand on the common level of humanity 
with us. 

There is not only humanity and humility but 
charity here displayed. It astonished the dis- 
sipated Samaritan. " How is it that thou, be- 
ing a Jew " (his dress, tongue and appearance 
betraying him), " askest drink of me, Which 
am a woman of Samaria?" The Jews and the 
Samaritans had been for ages bitter enemies. 
It, therefore, surprised this woman to find a 
Jew able to rise above the prejudices of his race. 
It touched her heart, and gave her a better view 
of life. It disposed her to hearken favorably 
to what the stranger had to say. 

During this interview, Christ rose from being 
a son of Abraham to being the Son of the 
Highest. In the offer made he showed himself 
greater than the patriarchs. " Art thou greater 
than our father Jacob, which gave us the well ? " 
He not only offered her living water, but re- 
hearsed the sad story of her life. On hearing 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 77 

this, she pronounced hirn a prophet. She felt 
that he could enter into the concealed depths of 
the heart, and reveal its hidden iniquit\ T . She 
was conscious of being in the presence of an 
extraordinary person. At this juncture, he 
says, " Whosoever drinketh of the water that 
I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the 
water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water springing up into everlasting life." 
These simple words are full of divinit}^ ! They 
carry us up to heaven ! What effect they must 
have produced as they fell fresh from the 
lips of Jesus on the ears of the poor villager ! 
They turned her reproving questions into an 
humble pra} T er : " Grive me this water." They 
changed to her mind the weary stranger from a 
prejudiced Jew to an object of religious worship. 

The other person in this picture is a disrepu- 
table villager. " There cometh a woman of 
Samaria to draw water." She is one of the 
daughters of Sychar, living at this very time in 
adultery, and knowing to some extent its sinful- 
ness. On being accused of it, her conduct 
showed that she was ill at ease. She showed 
that she had been sinning against the dictates 
of her own conscience. 

She was ignorant as well as dissolute. Reli- 
gious things had not occupied much of her 
attention. " The living water," " the well of 
living water," " the water springing up into 
everlasting life," were expressions far beyond 



78 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

her comprehension. To her they were like the 
words of an unknown tongue. She could think 
of no water higher, or more precious, than the 
contents of Jacob's well. There was over her 
mind and heart a veil of ignorance that caused 
her to misinterpret all that the Saviour had said 
to her. She stood in his presence a living em- 
bodiment of Paul's words : " The natural man 
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." 

She was not only dissolute and ignorant, but 
immersed in the cares of this life. She hardly 
knew what it was to look heavenward. The 
earthl} T water-pot and the well of Sychar ; the 
duties of her household and the physical wants 
of her family so filled her mind that she had 
neither room nor opportunity for anything else. 
The present so absorbed her thoughts as to 
exclude altogether the future. 

Notice, thirdly, the interview which took 
place between these dissimilar persons. It 
would be natural to expect from Christ some 
words of reproof, heavy accusations or solemn 
threats. We might infer that his words under 
such circumstances would be deep as the thun- 
der and scathing as the lightning, but lo 1 they 
fell as the rain and distilled as the dew. He 
did not denounce her adulter, though of course 
he disapproved of it ; he did not find fault with 
her ignorance, though he deplored its existence ; 
he said nothing concerning worldliness, though 
he regretted it, but simply asked her for some 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 79 

water to drink. Here we find sovereign grace 
in all its glory. He first spoke to the sinner, 
and not the sinner to him. He was at Sychar 
the tender shepherd, who went after, until he 
found, the lost sheep, before the lost sheep 
struggled to get back to the fold or to seize the 
shepherd. He begged, besought her, as though 
he were the gainer. 

Christ not only spoke to her first, but he did 
it unexpectedly. The woman had no expecta- 
tion of meeting the world's Saviour at Jacob's 
well. She as usual went after water without 
looking for aught beyond. She did not know 
that her name was written in the Lamb's book 
of life, and that therefore it was needful for 
the Messiah to go through Samaria. Even after 
seeing his face she did not suppose that he 
would speak to her. And, after his speaking, 
she did not suspect that he would make her 
at once an heir of eternal life. 

This is a specimen of what occurs all around 
us. The Saviour comes unexpectedly to this 
and that one. The still, small voice reaches 
the heart in the most unaccountable way. There 
goes a sick soldier to a stranger's door to obtain 
permission to sleep on his veranda. He is 
offered a bed in the house, but he declines it on 
account of his condition. He asks leave to lie 
anywhere under the shelter of the dwelling and 
it was granted. A little girl comes out to see 
him and feels a deep sympathy for his condition. 



80 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

She offers him her kind ministrj 7 , but he is in 
no need of it. Foiled in this, the little angel 
prays for him before she goes to bed, and the 
soldier hears the words : " Blessed Jesus, shel- 
ter the poor soldier on our porch ; may he love 
thee, and be cleansed in thy blood." These 
words sank into his heart and awoke new re- 
flections. They broke his slumbers and dis- 
turbed his rest, but they led him to look for a 
nobler rest. Little did he think, when he ob- 
tained permission to lie over night on the piazza, 
that Jesus would speak to him through the 
window from the mouth of a babe. 

Christ not only spoke first, and unexpectedly, 
but convincingly. He clearly showed his divine 
skill and tenderness. He dealt with Nicodemus 
— a man carefully reared and versed in all of 
life's proprieties — gently and delicately. He 
dealt kindly with the woman of Samaria, but 
with her dissolute life, ignorance, and blunted 
feelings he knew that there were no scruples to 
consult. She needed the piercing blast of the 
north wind, bringing with it sharp convictions of 
sin, and hence he resorted to that kind of means. 
He hurled the barbed arrows of truth through 
the thick folds of guilt and pollution covering 
her heart, and turned the full blaze of the eternal 
throne upon her darkened understanding, until 
she lay bleeding at his feet. " Go, call thy hus- 
band." Here was a sharp thrust at her con- 
science. " I have no husband." " True," re- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 81 

sponded the Searcher of hearts, "thou hast 
had five husbands ; and he whom thou now 
hast is not thy husband." This went deep, 
and called up memories of past iniquities. 
It opened that desolate soul to her own 
severe inspection. It gave her a clear view 
of the world of sin wrapped up within. It 
brought her to a full consciousness of what she 
was in God's sight. It proved to her the harbin- 
ger of the Sun of Righteousness which dispersed 
the clouds that had thus far obstructed her 
vision, and enabled her to rejoice in the truth 
she had as yet but dimly seen., 

Christ spoke to her savingly. This was his 
aim in the whole interview. It would be inter- 
esting to trace the successive steps leading to 
this culmination. They resemble those which 
she took from her bleak home to Jacob's well. 
Each brought her nearer and nearer, until she 
finally reached the water. Every word and ques- 
tion of the Saviour led to the living water. 
Jesus answered and said unto her : " Whosoever 
drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but 
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
him shall never thirst ; but the water that I 
shall give him shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." Under this 
simple figure was disclosed to her the great 
plan of salvation which instantly rose before 
her in its source, progress and results. 

Its source is more than hinted at. It is not 



82 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

good works, it is not perfect obedience. It 
does not spring out of the earth ; it flows not 
from the rock, it distils not from the clouds. It 
is the gift of God : " The water that / shall 
give." It comes from the Saviour's heart. It 
flows down from the eternal hills. 

Salvation is not only of God, but in the sin- 
ner's heart. It is not an outward robe which the 
storms of winter may tear away, nor a detached 
object which human means may remove; but a 
spiritual life — a hidden life. " The water that I 
shall give him shall be in him." It is " Christ 
in the soul tl\e hope of glory." The spring 
whence the river flows is below ground. The 
stream is visible, rising and flowing, winding 
and reflecting the sun's ra} T s, but no eye can 
detect the source. The Christian is unseen. 
His life is hid with Christ in God. 

This salvation which is of God and in the 
heart is largely independent of outward influ- 
ences. It is wholly so in its perpetuit}*. No 
external agent can destroy it. But its outward 
manifestation and fullness may be somewhat 
dependent on worldly influences. But even 
these cannot be wholly destroyed. Summer's 
drought cannot dry them and winter's frost can- 
not bind them. " The water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water." There is 
joy often within when the outgoings are dark 
and threatening. The spiritual stream frequently 
flows freshest when that of earth is dried up. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEESIONS. 83 

This salvation is beyond all price. It is 
more precious than gold — even the gold of Ophir. 
" Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst." What a contrast 
between this and all other means used to slake 
the soul's thirst ! The inscription written by 
our Lord on the well of Sychar may be writ- 
ten on all the wells of this world. " Whosoever 
drinketh of this water shall thirst again." Let 
a man drink ever so deeply of the sparkling 
brooks of worldly pleasure, and he will thirst 
again. Let him quaff to his heart's content of 
the turbulent waters of self-indulgence and he 
will thirst again. Let him sip ever so freely of 
the stream of power, and he will thirst again. 
Let him catch the golden tides of wealth and 
he will thirst again. But the water that Christ 
shall give him " shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." 

Alas, that so many in Christian lands should 
eagerly pant after the painted glories of this 
unsatisfying world ! Alas, that so many should 
drink of these earthly streams, when the living 
water is so full, so fresh, so free ! For what, 
within a few brief j^ears, will it all come to? A 
death-bed without hope, an eternity unprovided 
for, a corpse, a shroud, a grave ! All that the 
world can give, apart from Christ, cannot satisfy 
the soul. 

Notice, lastly, some of the results of Christ's 
interview with the woman of Samaria. It con- 



84: NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

vinced her of the worthlessness of her own 
faith. This was for her a sober matter. It is a 
solemn thing for a soul to be stripped at once 
of its shelter, its carefully constructed defenses, 
and its strong tower! It is pitiable to see one 
who has been at ease exposed suddenly to the 
stormy blast and made to shiver in the wintry 
cold. The woman of Samaria was, in her wa} r , 
religious. She was able to point to the moun- 
tain side on which her forefathers had wor- 
shiped for centuries. She knew considerable 
about the Messiah, and looked, in her wa} r , for 
his coming. To some extent she was acquainted 
with his character. She had some knowledge of 
God and of the principles of morality. She had 
been an observer of the rites and ceremonies of 
the Samaritan religion. She thought that she 
had enough to shelter her in the day of storm 
and judgment. But, lo ! all these were swept 
awa}' by a single sentence of the great Prophet : 
■ " Ye worship ye know not what." What you 
inhabitants of S3'char take to be religion is no 
religion at all. The props on which you now 
lean will presently let you fall. The refuge into 
which you have fled is a refuge of lies. There 
is no genuine worship as long as the soul re- 
mains unrenewed by grace, and as long as the 
love of Christ is not shed abroad in the heart. 
She was not only convinced of the worthless- 
ness of her religious duties, but taught the true 
way to worship God : " They that worship him 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 85 

must worship him in spirit and in truth. 1 ' No 
elaborate ritual is demanded. No sacred place is 
needed to make it effectual. No carefully arranged 
words are called for. Two things only enter into 
it, viz., a spiritual and holy God revealed as a 
loving Father, and an humble, trusting soul 
looking up to him with reverence and faith. 

The last result of the interview at Jacob's 
well was to turn a wicked woman into a noble 
missionary who should carry glad tidings to her 
fellow-citizens. The woman left her water-pot 
and went her way into the city and said to the 
men, " Come, see a man which told me all things 
that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" In 
her abounding joy she forgot her errand at 
the well. She ran back to the city without her 
pitcher, to tell her relatives and friends of the 
living water. She left Sychar a wretched sinner, 
and returned a rejoicing saint. In a moment a 
fountain was opened in her stony heart, that 
was not only to bubble up, but to flow over. 
Not only her own powers were refreshed, but 
the waste places around her home. Her soul 
was not hereafter to be a stagnant pool, but a 
sparkling spring discharging everywhere its liv- 
ing water to cause the God-forsaken town and 
the blighted valley to blossom as the rose. 

The grace which was so full and free at Jacob's 
well is still full and free. The Spirit and the 
Bride still say, Come. The water of life is still 
freely given. 



Chapter vi. 



THE CONVERSION OF ONE OUTSIDE THE 

CHOSEN PEOPLE-THE SYRO- 

PHOENICIAN WOMAN. 



Matt. xv. 28 : " 0, woman, great is thy faith : be it unto thee 
even as thou wilt." 

THIS is one of the most touching incidents 
in the life of our Lord. He was once 
prompted to overstep the boundary of his 
own country, not to teach nor to heal, but to 
seek a little rest in a quiet region overlooking 
the old cities of Phoenicia. We read that " he 
rose and went into the borders of Tyre and 
Sidon." This is a tract of country lying be- 
tween the "fyrian Ladder, or the ridge of rocks 
north of the bay of Acre, and the foot of Leba- 
non. The precise spot to which he resorted was 
the ancient town of Sarepta, on the shores of the 
Mediterranean. Here he hoped to escape notice, 
and spend a short time unrecognized by its 
inhabitants. But he failed in this. Just as 
soon could the sun find a place in the heaven 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 87 

where he might pause and rest, as Christ could 
find a hiding place in any land. Whither could 
the Friend of sinners go without being fol- 
lowed by the poor and needy claiming his friend- 
ship and waiting for his blessings ? Whith- 
er could the great Physician go without en- 
countering sufferers ready to appeal to his loving 
and compassionate heart ? His fame had been 
noised abroad, and his works of mercy had 
become known to all the people of these regions. 
" Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the 
same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have 
mercy on me, Lord, thou son of David ! " 
Her nationality is here given for an important 
purpose. She was not one of the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel, but a descendant of those 
corrupt tribes whom the chosen people were 
to exterminate. She was a child of that 
doomed race in whose room the descendants 
of Abraham had been planted. She was a 
woman of Phoenicia not only in its Canaan- 
itish but Syrian sense — that Syria which had 
not only so often, in its limited acceptation, 
been the foe of Israel, and consequently bears 
in Isaiah's prophecies the burden of Damascus, 
but which three hundred years before Christ's 
advent had merged in itself as one empire, the 
old glories of Assyria — the Assyria of Shalma- 
neser, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar — and 
which thus involved in its associations and con- 
nections the whole body of the Eastern enemies 



00 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 

of the Jewish people. She is further called " a 
Greek," and very properly, for all this region was 
subdued by Alexander the Great, and continued 
until after her day to be regarded as a Greek 
colony. She had doubtless fallen into the de- 
generacy and idolatry of her fellow-citizens. 
Hence, by birth, by pedigree and by religion, 
this woman was a Canaanitish Gentile. 

She had somehow heard of Christ's grace 
and power, and was determined to try both. 
11 Humble, penitent and believing," says Archer 
Butler, " she came from the long slavery of her 
idols. She spoke for one whom she had left at 
home, and spoke as only a mother could. Her 
words were few — she strove not to be heard for 
her much speaking, but quantity was compen- 
sated by intensit}' of feeling and truth of con- 
viction. Tears and cries, not words and periods, 
were intended for him who hears not with 
human ears ; who regards not the tongue, but 
listens to the beating of the heart ! Her words 
were few, but what a body of theology they 
contain ! She cried unto him, saying, ' Have 
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David ! ' 
' Meixvy,' for every thought and purpose of thy 
heart is compassion ; ' mercy,' for art thou not 
the long-expected Messiah, at once the Lord 
of all and the Son of David, true God and true 
Israelite ? " 

Most unexpected barriers here rise mountain 
high. She has found the right person, " Son 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 89 

of David." She addresses him by that name, 
but he retires mysteriously behind those lofty 
Jewish barriers which conceal him from the 
view of a poor Canaanite. He appears as a min- 
ister of the circumcision for the truth of God, 
to confirm the promise made unto the fathers. 
Not one jot or tittle of those promises could 
ever fail in the hands of such a faithful and au- 
gust minister ; and therefore, unless the Syro- 
Phcenician could view him in a higher character 
than as a minister of the circumcision, he must 
maintain strict silence. " He answered her not 
a word." What a damper to her warm heart! 
What a blight of her fond hopes ! She had 
poured out words of the tenderest pathos on 
the ears supposed to be always open to the cry 
of distress ; she had pleaded with all the earnest- 
ness of a mother with one who had been called 
the Friend of sinners ; and she had cast her 
tearful eyes on his benevolent face in hope of 
a gracious response, but he had no answer for a 
Canaanite. He must stand for the truth of God 
and confirm the promise made unto the fathers. 
With these promises she had nothing to do. 
He could not help a Gentile at the expense of 
the seed of Abraham. 

An ordinary seeker might give up his effort 
before this first barrier. But not this Canaan- 
itish woman. Her faith was not to be foiled. 
She became somehow convinced that there was 
a rich blessing in the heart of Jesus for her, 



90 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

and she was bound to have it. She had set out 
to touch his loving, tender heart, and she would 
not be put off. The dispensational barriers 
might be lofty, but that made no difference to 
her. The}' might be immovable, but it was all 
the same to her. She knew nothing about his 
covenant regulations with his own people. She 
was not supposed to know. All she thought of 
was his blessed character and tender heart. She 
had heard that he was mighty to save, and 
hence felt that, though he might not be able to 
remove the barriers, he could rise above them. 
Just here the light of hope began to break upon 
her soul — though the glories of the Son of 
David could only shine within the boundaries 
of Jewry, the glories of the Son of God could 
shed their bright beams over all the earth. The 
Plenipotentiary of heaven could perhaps, if he 
would, transcend his commission. He cannot 
be bound by laws, when he himself is the Law- 
giver. 

The simple fact that he had all power in 
heaven and on earth was not wholly satisfactory, 
however, because the same power that had made 
Carmel to blossom had left Sinai a desert. He 
had said, " I will have mercy on whom I will 
have mercy." " It is not meet to take the chil- 
dren's bread, and to cast it to dogs." At this 
very point, seemingly the darkest and the most 
discouraging in her search after Christ's mercy, 
her faith takes a bold and lofty flight. " She 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 91 

springs," says the writer already quoted, " from 
Christ's supreme control and infinite power to 
the benevolent equity of Providence. She rises 
above the clouds of divine power which seem to 
us, who can only see from below, dark, disturbed, 
stormy, into the holy serenity beyond them. 
She sees the calm Sovereign of the universe 
partial, yet impartial too, preferring some, yet 
forgetting none. She knows that his care is 
over all his works, and, deepest wonder of her 
heaven-sent enlightenment! she can see that he 
loves her, and yet accords his unquestionable 
right to love, if he please, others more ; allows 
she can ask but little, yet believingly dares to 
pronounce that little certain I She will permit 
no mystery of dispensation to contradict the 
truth of the divine character. ' Truth, Lord,' 
is her retort, for the calmness of her settled con- 
victions left her power to point her reply : 
1 Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs 
which fall from their masters' table.' Every- 
thing is here. All Christianity is concentrated 
in one happy sentence. She believes in her own 
lowliness ; she believes in God's absolute su- 
premacy; she believes in the secret propriety 
of the apparent inequalities of his providence ; 
she believes that those inequalities can never 
affect the true universality of his love." 

What a lesson is here taught those who stum- 
ble at God's plans and purposes ! It is fre- 
quently said that if men are elected to be saved, 



92 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

they will be saved, do what they will. This 
is their sheet anchor, their stronghold. There 
is in this an appearance of respect for the di- 
vine power. The}' see no use in attempting 
anything themselves ; for if they are not of the 
elect, it all will be in vain. The conduct of 
the poor idolater in the text is a standing re- 
buke to this class. She knew that she was not 
one of God's chosen people, and understood the 
necessary limitations of Christ's mission, but she 
did not on that account give up her search. 
She persevered until she secured the blessing. 
She was determined to reach the Saviour's heart 
if she had to pass through iron gates, or rocky 
barriers, and she succeeded. 

Some are making barriers of their own, and 
putting impediments in the way to heaven. They 
are assured of the infinite love of God, they 
have heard Christ's gracious invitations, they 
are entitled to all the promises of Scripture — 
for the} T are to every one that heareth. To all 
that are weary and heavy laden — to whosoever 
will. Let all take these promises to the throne, 
and tell the Promiser that they understand 
them to include them, and he will not cast them 
away. It is an encouraging fact that the same 
Bible which teaches God's sovereignty, teaches 
also man's free agency. The same Bible which 
says, u Whom God foreknew, them he also pre- 
destinated to be conformed to the image of his 
Son," also says, " Whosoever will, let him take 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS, 93 

of the water of life freely." Prying into the pro- 
found mysteries of God may do as much injury 
as gazing upon the sun did the mole, whose or- 
gans of vision could not bear the splendor of the 
orb of day. Let us not perplex ourselves then, 
w4th those things which are too deep for us to 
fathom, but let us bless God that, according to 
the Scriptures, "It is a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners," even the 
chief. 

The second barrier which rose between the 
Canaanitish mother and the Saviour's blessing, 
was his apparent indifference to her prayer. It 
was discouraging enough to feel that she was, by 
reason of her birth and religion, outside the 
covenant blessings of the chosen people. But 
to be treated with absolute indifference by the 
Saviour of the world was all but overwhelming. 
He might have uttered a word of pity ! He 
might have expressed some tender regret at her 
hopeless condition ! But he uttered not a word ! 
In no other case is found similar coldness on 
the part of the tender Saviour ; nor are we in- 
formed of the cause of it. 

The disciples noticed it with amazement. 
Their Master never acted so before — he had 
never treated another as he had this poor Ca- 
naanite. Their hearts were greatly moved. They 
asked him to grant her request and let her go. 
It was a rare thing in the life of Christ to 



94 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

seem less tender toward the afflicted than his 
disciples, and to need to be importuned by them 
to a deed of charity. " But all is rare here," as 
one commentator remarks ; " rare his silence, 
rare their entreat} 7 , and rare too the next step, 
or stage, of the incident." 

Two reasons for this strange conduct of Christ 
suggest themselves. First, he may have desired 
to test the feelings of his disciples, who, in the 
narrow spirit of Judaic exclusiveness, might have 
been unprepared to see him grant his blessings, 
not onl} T to a Gentile, but to a Canaanite, a de- 
scendant of a condemned race. It w r as true that 
he had healed the servant of the Centurion, but 
he was probably a Roman, certainly a bene- 
factor to the Jews, if not a proselyte of the 
gate. But it is more likely in the second 
place that, knowing what would follow, he 
may have desired to test yet further the woman's 
faith, both that he might crown it with a more 
glorious reward, and that she might learn some- 
thing profounder respecting him than the mere 
Jewish title w r hich she may have accidentally 
heard. 

At this juncture she came "and worshiped 
him, saying, Lord, help me." Her faith once 
more proved equal to the test. It enabled her 
to put herself in the divine presence as one 
simply needing help, and no one can ever do 
this in vain! Oh! the depth, the power, and 
the fullness of her short prayer, " Lord, help 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 95 

me ! " It consists of only three words — three 
short ones. They form a chain with three links 
— golden links. The " Lord " is put at one end 
and " me" on the other, and " help " is placed 
as a blessed link between ! Nothing can be 
simpler. The moment faith forms this kind of 
chain all is fixed. The little word "help" 
contains everything that the soul can need 
here or hereafter. 

Many feel discouraged } T et at Christ's silence 
to their importunate prayers. They have been 
pra} T ing for themselves, and for their friends, 
but he has not given the slightest response. 
On this account they are perplexed, perhaps 
cast down. " Fort} 7 years," said one, " have I 
been pleading before the throne, and no 
answer has } T et come. I am ready to give 
up." and she gave up; then the reply came. 
Under the conviction of sin men sometimes pray, 
and ask for an interest in the prayers of God's 
people, while they persistently refuse to believe 
in Christ. What is it they pray for ? What 
is it they really want? What is it they would 
have God do for them ? The gushing foun- 
tain is open and accessible at their feet ! 
What are they doing ? Drinking ? No, but 
praying God to quench their thirst ! They turn 
to the passing traveler and ask him to pray 
that God may take away this feverishness in 
their soul. What saith the Spirit ? " Come 
and take of the water of life." You may 



96 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

have read that story of a ship's crew djing of 
thirst on the coast of South America. When a 
vessel came in sight, they hailed her and asked 
for water to quench their thirst. " We are 
d^ing," they cried, " for the want of water." 
" Why," replied the sailors of the hailed ship, 
" you are in the mouth of the Amazon, you are 
in fresh water ; why do j t ou not cast your buck- 
ets and help yourselves.'" I say to you, who 
may have prayed long and earnestly for the 
waters of life, that they are all around you; 
draw from the wells of salvation ; drink and 
live. 

The third barrier which stood in the way 
of this poor woman was her personal unworthi- 
ness. She felt that she belonged to a cast-off 
race. She acknowledged that she was a Gentile. 
She had not concealed from Christ her past 
idolatry. Nevertheless she was not prepared 
for the last and most trying repulse. It was 
bad enough to be told that she lay without the 
limits of Christ's commission ; it was discoura- 
ging to have her warm entreaties cooled by 
a painful silence, but worse than all was the 
designation given her by the Saviour, namely, 
a dog. " It is not meet to take the children's 
bread, and to cast it to dogs." Here, you say, 
her faith must fail her. But wait! Will it 
grow strong enough for this emergency ? Will 
it bear the heat of this scorching crucible ? The 
Saviour knows with whom he is dealing. He is 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 97 

leading this Gentile mother to a point from 
which she can get a view of him which will 
satisfy every longing of her soul. 

How completely is this at last effected ! She 
accepts the distinction made by Christ between 
the children and the dogs. She readily admits 
that in the same household there are the chil- 
dren of the family ; there are also the dogs, and 
that it is right they should be fed at different 
times and on different viands. In the great 
human household differences of a like kind 
exist; there are the favored sons of Abraham; 
and there are the outcast children of Ham and 
Japheth. " She neither disputes the fact," 
says Dr. Hanna, " nor quarrels with those ar- 
rangements of Providence under which a dif- 
ferent treatment had been given to them ; she 
takes the lowly place that Christ has given her 
among the outcast tribes — among the dogs! 
But have not the dogs and the children all one 
master? Do they not dwell under one roof? 
May not even the dogs expect some little kind- 
ness at their master's hands? The finest and 
the choicest of the food should be given to the 
children, but are there no fragments for the 
dogs? 'Truth, Lord,' she cries, venturing in 
the boldness of her ardent faith to take up the 
image that Christ had suggested, and to con- 
struct out of it an argument, as it were, against 
himself: 'Truth, Lord: yet the clogs eat of the 
crumbs which fall from their masters' table.' 



y» NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

'"Truth, Lord, but thou art the Master; and 
there dwells in thee such a kind and loving 
heart, that I will not believe — no, not though 
thine own words and deeds should seem to de- 
clare it — that the meanest creature in thy house- 
hold will be overlooked or left unprovided for. 
Truth, Lord, I am not a child, and I ask not, 
expect not a child's favor at thy hands. I am 
but a dog before thee, and it is no part of the 
children's food — it is but a crumb from thy 
richly furnished table that I crave ; and what but 
such among all the rich and varied blessings that 
thou hast come to lavish upon thine own — what 
but such would be the saving mercy upon the 
like of me, and healing my poor afflicted child?' 
She triumphs and more than triumphs. Not one 
moment longer does her Lord prolong the agony 
of her suspense. ' 0, woman,' he exclaims, 
'great is tlry faith: be it unto thee even as 
thou wilt.'" 

Many in our day say that they are too 
great sinners to be pardoned. I fear that these 
do not feel the full meaning of their allega- 
tion. They may be conscious of heavy guilt, 
but they are not conscious of guilt so crushing 
as that. One of this class told her pastor, who 
knew the weakness of human nature, that 
she was too great a sinner to be pardoned ; 
that she had done despite to the Spirit of 
grace, and defied for many years Christ's au- 
thority. The keen eyes of that master in Israel 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 99 

saw below all that show of humility a large 
amount of self-righteousness, and joined with 
her in her depreciation of self. When she 
was done, he proceeded to say that she was 
a far greater sinner than she had acknowl- 
edged — far greater than she had any concep- 
tion of. At this point the spirit of rebellion 
arose. She broke out into a torrent of invec- 
tives on professed Christians, and alleged that 
she was much better than many of them. Her 
concealed pride and self-righteousness came at 
last to the surface. She went home displeased 
with her pastor, declaring that she could no 
longer attend his ministry since he had such a 
low opinion of her character. But his searching 
words had made their impression. " Yes, you are 
a greater sinner than you have any conception 
of," rang in her ears, until she was brought 
to the condition of the poor womeai in the text. 
She became willing at last to accept even the 
crumbs from the Master's table. When she 
reached that point, the blessing came. Her sins 
were forgiven. The Lord said unto her, " Be it 
unto thee even as thou wilt." After this she 
visited her pastor with a light heart and a beam- 
ing face, in order to tell him that her sins had 
been forgiven, but not until she had cried : 

u Other refuge have I none ; 

Hangs my helpless soul on thee ; 
Leave, ah ! leave me not alone, 
Still support and comfort me." 



100 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

If 3*ou, dear reader, have imagined that you 
are too great a sinner to be pardoned, give 
it up at once and remember that Christ's blood 
cleanseth from all sin. Throw your dj'ing soul 
into his loving arms. Cast your all upon him 
for time and eternity. Approach him at once 
with the sweet words : 

■ ' Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind ; 
Sight, riches, healing of the mind : 
Yea, all I need, in thee to find, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! 

" Just as I am ! thou wilt receive, 
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve ; 
Because thy promise I believe, 
O Lamb of God, I come ! ' ' 

" Truth, Lord : } T et : " is the sum and substance 
of faith. If we have learned to connect these 
words, we have learned to believe. " Truth, 
Lord : " sin has abounded unto death ; yet 
" hath thy grace much more abounded unto 
life." "Truth, Lord:" cursed is everyone that 
abideth not in all things which are written in 
the book of the law to do them ; yet, " He, who 
knew no sin was made sin for us ; that we might 
be made the righteousness of God in him." 
"Truth, Lord" is a true view of self; "yet" 
is a profound knowledge of Christ. The two, 
in their proper relation, constitute a saved per- 
son — a child of God. 



Chapter vn. 



THE CONVERSION OF A BROKEN-DOWN 

MERCHANT— THE DEAIONIAC 

OF GADARA. 



Mark v. 19, 20: "Go home to thy friends, and tell them 
how great things the Lord hath done for thee," etc. 

AS we have seen, the publican and the way- 
side beggar both went after Jesus. They 
had heard of his intention to pass by 
them, and made every effort to meet him. The 
former ran before the multitude and climbed 
into a s} T Comore tree, and the latter cried, 
" Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me." 
In the case of the Gadarene this order was 
reversed. Though he had heard of the coming 
of the Great Physician to Capernaum, he did 
not cross the lake in order to consult him, nor 
did he wait on his own shore for his arrival. 
There is nothing in his history from which we 
may gather that he ever expected to see him. 
He had doubtless heard of his miracles, but had 
expressed no desire to meet him. 

Here is a case in which the Great Shepherd 
101 



102 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

went, of his own accord, after his lost sheep. 
He commanded his disciples to secure a boat to 
convey him to the other side of the sea. They 
were probabty ignorant of his object in crossing, 
but it was enough for them to know that he 
wanted to visit the opposite bank. There is 
in this a lesson of great practical importance. 
The Saviour could have walked around the sea 
to the country of the Gadarenes, but he pre- 
ferred allowing his disciples to take him thither. 
This suggests that means are to be used in 
order to bring Christ into touch with perishing 
souls. 

Christ not only went after the lost sheep, but 
he went after it at no little sacrifice. He had 
just been addressing the multitude until his 
physical strength was nearly exhausted. As 
soon as the boat left the shore, therefore, he 
lay his head on the hard cushion of the steers- 
man and fell into a deep sleep. But he was 
suddenly roused by his frightened companions. 
One of the fierce storms which are common to 
Palestine unexpectedly swept down the slope of 
Gennesaret. With scarce a moment's warning 
the air was turned into a whirlwind, and the sea 
into a foam. Danger became imminent, but so 
great was the Saviour's fatigue that he calmty 
slept until the cr} r came, "Lord! Master! Save, 
we perish ! " Without confusion of thought or 
quivering of nerve, he first stilled the tempest in 
the souls of his disciples, and then commanded 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 103 

the winds and the waves to subside. But soon 
after this had passed away the boat reached the 
bleak country of the Gadarenes. 

The subject of the text is the Conversion 
of a Broken-down Merchant — the Demoniac of 
Gadara. 

Notice, first, his physical and mental condi- 
tion when Christ found him. It is said that 
he was possessed of the devil. He is called 
in Scripture a Demoniac. For our present 
purpose it is of no importance what theory we 
adopt regarding the nature of the demons 
that tormented his mind or body. The inspired 
writers do not explain it, and commentators have 
not been able to set the question at rest. Some 
hold that the demons in the Saviour's day were 
not evil spirits, but malignant diseases. Which- 
ever it was, the results of their possession of 
the man in the text were distressing in the 
extreme. 

The first result was the marring of his 
personal appearance. It is safe to infer that 
the Demoniac was in his younger days a man 
of some comeliness of person. But when he met 
the Saviour on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, 
he hardly looked like a man. His face was 
burned hy exposure to the sun, his frame 
emaciated by hunger, and his limbs were bleed- 
ing from self-inflicted torture. His eyes were 
fierce and fiery from inward pain, and his whole 
bearing was that of a savage beast that was a 



10 i NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

terror to the neighborhood. His food consisted 
of what he found in the woods, among the rocks 
and along the east coast of the sea. 

The demons not only marred his personal 
appearance, but separated him from his home 
and friends. He was probably a native, and 
once a respectable merchant of the city of 
Gadara. But, under demoniacal influence, he 
had lost his love for family and kindred, and 
they, in turn, had become alienated from him. 
From the loss of affection, if not from shame, 
he left his home and city for the highlands of 
Gennesaret, where he discovered spacious exca- 
vations used as haunts of robbers, places of 
refuge, and tombs for the dead. By this time, 
his mind was so far unbalanced that, instead of 
living with his relatives and following his orig- 
inal calling, he dwelt among the tombs, where 
his thoughts were filled with ghostly images of 
the departed. 

The devil not only marred his personal appear- 
ance and drove him from his home, but plunged 
him also into the deepest degradation and 
misery. The tendency of sin was then, as it is 
now, to degradation, if not to downright bestial- 
ity. The devil creates in man's soul an affinity 
for the low and the unclean. By it the Gada- 
rene demoniac had been reduced to the level of 
the swine. Like the prodigal he found himself 
sharing the lot of the unclean beasts. 

The devil, moreover, produced a species of 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 105 

mental derangement. This is the best way to 
account for the conduct of the Gadarene in 
making his home not among, but in the tombs. 
There he was a voluntary outcast from society 
without desire to hold communication with 
his family. He cared not for their welfare. 
But, during his lucid moments when he realized 
what he once was, and what he still might be, 
he carried on a frantic war with himself by 
lacerating his body with sharp flints gathered 
on the slopes of Galilee. When he relapsed 
from these lucid spells he was more furious 
than before. Then, in self-protection, he forced 
his neighbors to bind him with fetters and 
chains. But so great was his physical strength 
under those demoniacal possessions that he 
broke the chains and cut the fetters in sunder. 
It may be asked, if there is anything analo- 
gous to this in our own day and country ? 
No doubt there were peculiar elements in the 
case of the Demoniac which put his case beyond 
the limits of ordinary experience. He must 
have been at times overpowered by some agent 
stronger than himself. Meanwhile, it must be 
true that he yielded to it of his own accord. 
We are not ready to affirm that the Demoniac 
was insane any more than the drunkard, the 
libertine, the gambler or the defaulter of our 
own da}\ All of them, however, are to be 
regarded as being possessed of the devil in 
some sense. Is it not true that there are 



106 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

raving maniacs of this sort in every commun- 
ity in our land? Are not all those such "who 
succumb to the tempting power of the intox- 
icating cup ? Some of them, alas ! have taken 
every step the Gadarene Demoniac took. Their 
visage has become marred by } T ears of indul- 
gence. Their home has lost its attractions, and 
their dearest relatives, their fascination. Their 
business and place of abode have been ex- 
changed for the country or some out of the 
way, godless village. There, unchecked by the 
presence of wife, children or friends, they are 
sinking to the low level of the beast. The rec- 
ollection of home and their once happ}' life, 
mingled with the compunctions of a guilty con- 
science, lacerate the soul more severel}- than 
the flints of the desert cut the flesh of the 
Demoniac of Gadara. 

Are not our large cities the homes of multi- 
tudes of libertines who have exchanged the 
sweet company of mothers and sisters for that 
of strangers whose steps lead to death? Do 
not their disfigured faces and unsteady bearing 
betray the presence of the demon lust? Have 
not multitudes left homes of happiness and com- 
fort for mining camps, or God-forsaken towns 
on the frontier ? Not a few have passed from 
one downward step to another, until they have 
nearly reached the low level of the brute. 

Is not the course also of the gambler and 
the defaulter similar to that of the Demoniac? 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 107 

How many of them in a few years, have sadly 
changed in their personal appearance? How 
many have become indifferent to home and 
relatives and sought a place of abode in a far 
country, among a people for whom they once 
had no affinity ? 

Notice, secondly, the impotency of human 
means to bring such persons to their right mind. 
It can hardly be doubted that the wife and 
children of the Demoniac did all in their power 
to correct his habits, hide his faults and bring 
him to repentance. No one can describe the 
pain they experienced ; the struggles through 
which they passed, and the tears they shed over 
his bad conduct long before they let it be known 
to his neighbors. It is safe to say that not 
until all home expedients had failed was he 
allowed to break through the restraints of love 
and affection. Even when that was done friends 
and neighbors were not wanting to offer their 
kindly services, but they were of no avail. It is 
emphatically said that they " could not bind 
him, no, not with chains." They tried fetters, 
they tried manacles, and they tried confinement. 
But he broke the fetters, removed the man- 
acles, and escaped from his confinement. They 
could do nothing with him. All the expedients 
devised failed. 

Human means are no more effective in our 
own day in bringing about a thorough reforma- 
tion in the case of demoniacs. Many are the 



108 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

chains and fetters, the tears and expostulations 
of wives and children. Friends and relatives weep 
over, preach to, exact promises from, watch night 
and day, follow and guard the drunkard. Par- 
ents, children and friends expostulate with and 
try to persuade the gambler. The law of the 
land, public sentiment, and the punishments of 
Almighty God are pointed out to the libertine. 
Much is thus done to keep vice and crime from 
encroaching on the liberty and enjoyment of 
others; much to keep both within respectable 
bounds. Nevertheless, they fail to change the 
Demoniac ; the}- succeed at times in checking 
the demon, but they do not cast him out. 
They may protect society, but they do not save 
the soul ! 

Notice, thirdly, the reception accorded to the 
Saviour by many who stand most in need of 
his blessings. The Demoniac begged of him 
to let him alone. " He cried with a loud voice, 
saying, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, 
thou Son of the most high God?" The Gada- 
rene, observe, identifies himself with the demon 
within and bids the Saviour let him alone — "go 
away and disturb me not." He is contented to 
live in the tombs, to clank his chains, cut his 
flesh, and howl like a madman. There can be no 
sadder description than this of the sinner ! Yet 
it is true, down to the minutest details. The 
drunkard cries to Christ to let him alone ; not to 
torment him, not to take away his intoxicating 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 109 

cup ! The gambler cries to him to go away, to let 
him alone, and not to torment him. The liber- 
tine bids him keep awa}^ and prays him not to 
trouble him. The covetous man cries, " Torment 
me not ! Let me cling to my gold and die by 
its side." The proud, the vain, the ambitious and 
the self-indulgent cry, " Torment us not by 
coming to us with self-denial, with religious 
life or with a cross." This is the welcome often 
received by him who left heaven to convey men 
thither; who took upon him the form of a 
servant in order to suffer for them ; who crossed 
the tempestuous sea of life to reach them; 
who agonized and died in order to save them. 
Alas ! multitudes speak of Christ as though 
he came to torment their souls. Nevertheless, 
he continues to seek and to save even the least 
likely to come. 

Notice, lastly, a few of the results of Christ's 
meeting the Demoniac. He was restored to his 
right mind. He was not what we understand by 
a downright maniac, but a man who was broken 
down in health or morally wrecked. The 
Bible often speaks of the sinner who rebels 
against God and destroys his own happiness 
as being beside himself. The prodigal is said 
to have been brought to himself, implying that 
he had been previously mad. What can be 
greater madness than to defy the God in whose 
hands our breath is ? than to cany weapons 
of rebellion against him who controls the winds 



110 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

and the waves ? than to refuse the offers of 
reconciliation when we know that persistence 
in rebellion will prove our ruin ? The converted 
man is restored to his right mind. 

The Demoniac was brought not only to his 
right mind, but to his right place also, namely, 
the feet of Jesus. What a contrast between 
what this man was a few days before, and what 
he is now. Yesterday he dwelt in the tombs — 
to-day he sits at the feet of him who is the 
Resurrection and the Life. Yesterda} r he car- 
ried upon his body the scent of corruption — ■ 
to-day he carries the atmosphere of heaven. 
Yesterday he lay in the midst of the chilly damp 
of the caves — to-day he basks in the full sun- 
shine of the Sun of Righteousness. Yesterday 
he sat under the shadow of the burnt mountains 
of Gadara — to-day he sits under the shadow of 
the great Rock. Yesterday he amused himself 
with the phosphorescence of the grave — to-day 
he revels in the light of life! 

The attitude of all true converts is that of 
sitting at the feet of Jesus. They take a low 
place. Humility is their constant garment. It 
shows their spiritual greatness. Much knowl- 
edge makes one humble. The shallow man is 
the conceited one. There is no room for 
self at Jesus' feet. No place is found there for 
pride. Xone sit at his feet but the empty, the 
poor in spirit, the one who smites upon his breast 
and cries, " God be merciful unto me, a sinner." 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEE3ION3. Ill 

Sitting at his feet is a mark of discipleship 
also. The Demoniac, therefore, was not only 
in his right mind and in the right place, but in 
the right compan}^ namely, that of Christ's dis- 
ciples. He mingled with those who were in the 
school of Christ. It is there that the Spirit 
teaches his lessons, and those who do not sit 
there are not taught of him. But he who sits 
there gets nearest to the throne of God. No 
soul will find itself at the foot of the throne in 
heaven which is not found at the feet of Jesus 
on earth. 

The Demoniac was further brought to the 
right frame of mind. It is said of him, as was 
said of Paul, " Behold, he prayeth." Prayer is 
the Christian's vital breath. The Demoniac 
breathed out his desire in the ears of Christ, 
but, strange to say, he received no reply. The 
prayer which he offered was the only one per- 
haps which Jesus did not answer in the way it 
was intended. The demons prayed that' they 
might be permitted to enter the swine, and it 
was granted ; the Gadarenes prayed that Jesus 
might depart from their coast, and it was granted. 
But when this restored child asked to be allowed 
to follow the Saviour his prayer was not heard. 
The wayside beggar was allowed to go with the 
multitude who were praising God, but the 
Demoniac was refused the same privilege. Wh} 7 " 
is this? The object for which he prayed must 
have been right and proper. The spirit in 



112 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

which he prayed must have been humble and 
all that could be asked. Why, then, was he 
not heard? His motives may not have been 
in all respects right. They may have contained 
• a selfish desire to be happy in Christ's presence, 
and to bask the rest of his days in his love, 
to see his face and enjoy his fellowship, rather 
than to be useful in his service. Or, his prayer 
may have been offered from a trembling fear of 
his old enemies. He may have felt that if he 
remained in those parts the old passions and 
habits would come back and again overcome 
him, forgetting that he who expelled them was 
able also to keep them out. The Lord himself, 
though absent from him in the flesh, had prom- 
ised to watch over him in all his ways. 

Or, perhaps, his prayer may have been offered 
from a desire to abandon the place in which he 
had lived a raving demoniac. Shame may have 
led him to wish to get away from the presence 
of those whom he had injured, and who had 
seen his wretched condition under demoniacal 
possession. 

Admitting that the object, spirit and motives 
of his prayer were all right, the Saviour may 
have seen that it would be better for him and 
the neighborhood to answer it in a different way 
from what he intended. Of all men, he seemed 
to be the one to go back to his country and 
companions to tell the stor} T of Jesus' love. 
All the disciples combined could not produce the 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 113 

effect upon the minds of the Gadarenes which his 
presence could. '* He had friends," says another, 
" who once felt tenderly toward him, but whom 
he had long estranged by his ungodly ways. He 
may have had a father and a mother who had 
spent many a sleepless night thinking of their 
poor prodigal, especially when the storm was 
loud and he was alone with the demons among 
the tombs. He may have had a wife, who 
thought, with burning tears, of her husband, 
who once, and perhaps still, was the idol of 
her heart. He may have had children to whom 
their father had been a terror and a mystery as 
they gathered around their mother's knee like 
scared birds when they heard his voice and his 
steps coming near the door. To be the acquaint- 
ance, the parents, the wife, or the children of a 
demon-possessed man — how dreadful was the 
thought ! He has dragged them all with him into 
the abyss and tormented them through his sin. 
In vain have they tried to bind him with chains. 
Many a painful struggle to do so has that house 
witnessed. Upon its walls the chains are per- 
haps still hanging with the thought of their 
being used again, and with better hopes of suc- 
cess. Now, however, since the man has met 
Jesus, these chains are no longer required. The 
friend, son, brother, husband, father returns; 
his face calm as an inland sea, and shining as 
if he were fresh from the brow of Tabor. His 
mother can see in his eyes those of her child 



114 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

again, yet more innocent and beautiful; the wife 
can discern the old, familiar look of earthly love 
transfigured with heavenly grace ; the children 
can climb his knees and kiss his face still marked 
by the scars of the old battles among the tombs, 
yet full of love that casteth out fear, and whose 
every look and word is to their young heart3 
refreshing as the dews of Hermon." 

It was Christ's will that this restored Demo- 
niac should be a beacon light to all the people 
of that coast. This newly enkindled light on 
the banks of the dangerous sea was not to be 
kept safe and warm, or hid under a bushel, but 
exposed to sight that it might safely guide those 
driven before the storms. How fearful is the 
denunciation of Christ against a beacon which 
sends forth no light : " If the light that is in 
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" 
What image could be more terrible than this! 
Here is a Christian, set forth as an eclipsed lu- 
minary ! A star in the night, or a sun at noon- 
day, giving no light ! 

At the command of Christ the Demoniac went 
to his own house. Picture if 3'ou can that re- 
turn — that approach to his own household — that 
crossing of the threshold — that welcome of the 
loved ones — those bounding feet — those clasping 
arms — those sobbing utterances of overwhelming 
rapture, too deep for words ! " There he is once 
more with the living, in his own house with the 
ministries of gentle hands, the brightness of 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 115 

loving eyes, the music of sweet voices — all the 
peace, the triumph, the rapture of holy and ex- 
ultant life, within him and round him!" 

Follow him one step further to the streets of 
Decapolis, and see him among the friends and 
companions of his years of revelry and sin. See 
how his eyes flash, how his heart bounds 1 See 
how, in simple yet earnest eloquence, he tells 
them of that blessed Redeemer who met him in 
his wanderings, and who graciously saved him 
from sin and hell ! His very presence, in his 
right mind, was a sermon more eloquent than 
any which Paul or Apollos could preach. 



Chapter viii. 



THE CONVERSION OF A MAN AT THE LAST 

HOUR— THE MALEFACTOR ON 

THE CROSS. 



Lukexxiii. 42, 43 : " Lord, remember me when thou comest 
into thy kingdom," etc. 

THESE are the last words of a dying thief. 
He had reached the eleventh hour both 
in time and condition. In the jaws of 
death he cast his eye on Christ and addressed 
him as Lord. Life was rapidly ebbing, and for 
him the world was fast passing away. He knew 
that there was a world beyond, but he had no 
ground for hoping that it would be well with 
him there. He had only a few more hours to 
live, and the question stared him in the face how 
he was to make the necessary preparation for 
the future in the midst of pain, jeers and blas- 
phemy. 

He was not only on the verge of eternity, but 
was a malefactor — a thief or a robber, probably 
both. He was conscious of being justly con- 
116 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEKSIONS. 117 

demned, and legally nailed to the tree of shame. 
In addressing Christ, he thus summed up the 
sad result of his life and that of one of his 
fellow-sufferers : " We receive the due reward 
of our deeds." The end of our efforts, the 
results of our life, the prize of our conflicts, and 
the reward of our struggles, is this righteous 
condemnation! What could be more sad! 
Nevertheless a ray of hope, a flash of light 
from above appears even here. It discloses 
the outward expression of the noblest faith, a 
faith which sprang up where there was no soil; 
which put forth leaves without sunshine ; which 
bore precious fruit in the absence of the usual 
succession of seed-time and harvest. 

The subject to which your attention is invited 
is The Conversion of a Man at the Last Hour — 
the Malefactor on the Cross. 

Notice, first, some of the steps leading to it. 
We discover in his words that he had now a full 
realization of his guilt. It is a fearful expe- 
rience for one to become suddenly conscious of 
his lost condition ; but to become conscious of it 
when it seems to be too late to have it remedied 
is overwhelmingly so ! The dying thief makes 
no attempt to conceal, to justify, or even to pal- 
liate his crime. He acknowledges it frankly and 
fully: "We indeed justly." Ho thus takes the 
entire blame to himself, and seeks the clemency 
of the merciful King hanging by his side. 

A realization of his lost condition at such an 



118 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

hour and under such circumstances must have 
produced fear and trembling. Never before had 
he seen himself in such a light. He had not 
previously felt that he stood before any court 
higher than the Roman tribunal. If he had ever 
thought of the eternal throne, it was soon for- 
gotten, banished or buried from sight. But now 
it cannot be set aside or even disregarded. He 
asks his fellow-sufferer : " Dost thou not fear 
God ? " It is every one's duty to do so. What 
a change to go from a state of irreverence to 
God's presence — from habitual forgetfulness of 
divine justice to a recognition of its claims. 

Here are not only a conviction of sin and 
fear of retribution, but a new view of the Person 
hanging by his side. Human sympathy could 
afford him no help — for divine justice was now 
frowning upon him. By his side hangs one who 
seemed to be covered with obloquy and loaded 
with shame, but who, in spite of all accusations 
and appearances, was not only innocent of crime, 
but omnipotent. " Lord, remember me." New 
light instantly dawned upon the malefactor's mind 
— the events of the past few days passed in rapid 
sucession before his dazed vision. He had possi- 
bly heard the testimony of Pilate, who declared 
that he had found no fault in Christ, and that of 
the great company of people and of women who 
bewailed and lamented him ; he had heard many 
speak of Christ's innocence and of the work of 
love and kindness he had performed among them 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 119 

for three 3^ears and a half. He had no doubt seen 
his face, and discovered on it the outward glow 
of a pure and calm conscience ; he had seen him 
fearless, composed, yet meek and gentle; he 
had heard his words to the daughters of Jeru- 
salem, so solemn and yet so tender, so majestic 
and yet so divine : " Weep not for me, but weep 
for j^ourselves, and for your children." He had 
perhaps heard his prayer, revealing a love and 
holiness, more than human : " Father, forgive 
them ! " This caused the conviction to flash 
across his mind that Christ was the only-begotten 
of the Father — the Lord of Glo^. 

The thief recognized in Christ not only 
divinity, but also kingly power: "Lord, remem- 
ber me when thou comest into thy kingdom." 
He looked upon him as the Sovereign of that 
kingdom which was looked to and longed for by 
all the chosen people. What he saw in him to 
produce this conviction it is impossible to tell. 
Christ had no robes to set forth his kingly 
power save the crimson stream that flowed from 
his hands and feet ; he had no crown save that 
of thorns to set forth any dominion he might 
have possessed ; he had no throne save the trans- 
fixed beams of the cross ; he had no courtiers 
but the disciples who at this trying hour stood 
afar off. Yet, the dying thief discovered that he 
was a king ! 

Whatever ma}^ have been the process through 
which his mind passed, he came to the conclusion 



120 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

that the taunted sufferer hanging by his side was 
the long-expected Messiah, the hope of Israel, 
and the refuge of the guilty, and made his appeal 
to him, desperate as his condition was. Con- 
demned of men, condemned by his own con- 
science and condemned of God, he felt that prob- 
ably the pangs he was now enduring were only 
the foretaste of the deeper and darker ones still 
awaiting him bej^ond death. But, by his side, 
if anywhere in the universe, was one who was 
able to rescue him from his impending doom, 
and with that conviction he turns to the bleeding 
Saviour, and urges his plea : " Lord, remember 
me." There is no hesitation, no circumlocution, 
no peradventure in his speech or demeanor. He 
sees his guilt ; he feels his danger ; he is sure 
that he discovers in Jesus evidence of power to 
help him, and he at once earnestly urges his 
suit : " Lord, remember me! " No conditions are 
here laid down, no terms are offered ; he centres 
his hopes in the mere mercy of him whom he 
names Lord and King. All he asks is remem- 
brance, notice, pity, just what the Lord might, 
of his own goodness, be disposed to grant him. 
This is unquestionabty a saving faith. When 
alarmed under the conviction of sin, a man 
attempts much, does much, and promises more, 
in the hope of obtaining God's favor. But when 
he is thoroughly humbled ; when he is truly 
penitent, he begins to apprehend the real char- 
acter, the all-sufficiency, and the matchless grace 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 121 

of Christ, as the Saviour of perishing souls ; he 
then abandons self-reliance, he struggles under 
conviction ; he offers no terms, he simply and 
cordially submits to the good pleasure, the unre- 
stricted will of God in Christ, and the feelings 
of his heart are expressed in the words, a Lord, 
remember me ! " 

He commits his cause into his hands for time 
and for eternity. To be remembered by this 
High Priest who is about to enter the holy of 
holies, is all his desire and hope. He was in 
some way raised of God high above all his con- 
temporaries, so that the saying became true, the 
last was first. He had not only knowledge and 
faith, but clear knowledge and a gigantic faith. 
He understood, better perhaps than the apostles, 
the nature of the two kingdoms of Christ — the 
relation between his cross and his crown, his 
suffering and his glory. His confidence, even in 
his humiliation and shame, was stronger than their 
faith or their adoring trust. He was more loyal 
and faithful than even the chosen ambassadors 
and pillars of the church, for he confessed his 
heavenly Master before his revilers, testified of his 
righteousness in the ear of those who condemned 
him, and shared his reproach. Thus on the cross 
of loneliest agony and bitterest suffering, when 
this poor earth offered no consolation, no sym- 
pathy, no cordial to the Son of Man, this dying 
thief afforded all three; he was indeed a lily among 
thcrns ; whose beauty and fragrance afforded 



122 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

Jesus the last joy he experienced before his 
death. 

Notice, secondly, the difficulties with which the 
dying thief had to contend in securing his salva- 
tion. The first, in all probability, was the sugges- 
tion of Satan that he was too great a sinner to be 
saved. The difference between a man who is a 
great sinner and a self-righteous one is very great. 
Satan seeks to destroy their souls in a variety of 
ways. Coming to one he whispers in his ears, 
" You are not so lost as to need salvation." He 
comes to another and sa}*s, " You are too bad 
to think of ever getting it." The centurion is an 
example of the former, and the thief on the 
cross, of the latter. If any one under the blind- 
ing power of the deceiver has gone so far astray 
as to think that he does not need salvation 
through the atoning death of Christ — if he con- 
siders himself safe, because he has never done 
anything particularly wrong — does not wish any 
one ill, does his duty as a father, husband, friend, 
attends to some of the outward duties of religion 
— supposing that all this is true, to what does 
it amount ? It does not go beyond the religion 
of Cornelius, for an angel sent from heaven came 
to tell him that his prayers and alms had come 
up as a memorial before God. But, did his 
prayers and alms save him? No, they only 
proved that he was seriously seeking salvation. 
And, again, if any one should say, " I am too bad, 
too wretched, too guilty to be saved, I am beyond 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS, 123 

the reach of mercy," let such an one consider the 
case of the dying thief. The man in the text 
was doubtless tempted of the devil in this direc- 
tion. What ! a thief and a robber asking mercy 
with his dying breath ! Is it not an insult to 
God ? In spite of all this the poor man looked 
to God and was saved. 

The second difficulty with which the thief had 
to contend was the outward appearance and sur- 
roundings of the Saviour. He saw in him no 
outward signs of power or of ro}alty. He was 
not present when courtiers applauded him ; he 
was not an eyewitness of the Galilean prophet's 
triumph when the risen Lazarus stood before 
him; when those who had long been lame, halt, 
crippled, paralytic or lunatic were gratefully pro- 
claiming the power that had healed them ; he 
was not one of the thousands who were miracu- 
lously fed by his hand and who hailed him as the 
prophet long foretold, the Son of David, Israel's 
promised Messiah, Israel's King. No, no, all 
those recognitions were probably unknown to him. 
The dying thief spoke to Jesus — the despised, 
calumniated, condemned Jesus — when hanging on 
the cross ; when surrounded by a jeering crowd, 
mocked by the rude soldiery and taunted by even 
the priests and scribes of his own people. 

The third difficulty was the desperate circum- 
stances in which he found himself — hanging upon 
the cross. It was not eas}-, hardly possible, for 
him to speak so that the Saviour could hear him, 



121 NEW TESTAMENT CONVEKSIONS. 

and hardly possible for him to hear the reply of 
the Saviour. It was with difficulty he could con- 
trol his mind and tongue under the excruciating 
pains of the crucifixion. It was hard to think 
under such circumstances, and }-et he succeeded 
in doing it to the saving of his soul. Unmoved 
b}^ example, unawed by power and unaffected by 
ridicule, contempt or mockery, this boldest of 
believers judged for himself, and obeyed the 
impulses of his own conscience, and, while all the 
world rejected the Christ, while his very disciples 
were hiding in cowardly desertion, this poor 
suffering criminal, this despised outlaw, this 
guilty but now penitent thief, dared, alone and in 
defiance of Jews and Romans, of tortures and 
scoffers, to single out the very person on whom 
all others thus heaped contumely and insult, as 
the One whom his heart and his voice, solitary 
though it was, should hail in open acknowledg- 
ment, as the great Prophet, the promised Mes- 
siah, the Lord of the future, the one only hope 
of his guilty, perishing soul : " Lord, remember 
me." 

Notice, lastty, the triumphs of the dying thief, 
and, first, his triumph over his old habits, pas- 
sions and desires. Only a few days before this he 
was an abandoned profligate, a daring ruffian, 
trampling under foot the laws of God and man in 
order to gratify his passions and satisfy his lust. 
But now he is completely changed. His lust 
is eradicated, his fierce passions are subdued and 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 125 

even his love of life is lost under the influence of 
higher, nobler and holier motives. He seeks the 
life of his soul, regardless of the infamy that cov- 
ered him, or the pain that was racking every fibre 
of his frame, and of the contempt and mockery 
which were heaped upon both, and without spend- 
ing a thought on the pangs of death which he felt 
must soon be upon him, he looked beyond death 
and the grave and laid his last wish, his final 
petition, before him in whom his faith then clearly 
beheld the Lord of glory. 

He also triumphed over time. To God time is 
nothing. His Spirit can create in a moment 
what, in others, is effected only by degrees. None 
can reach a higher point than this sinner did 
who was suddenly converted. To fear God, to 
acknowledge our sins, to submit to the justice 
of our condemnation, to turn to Christ, to call 
him Lord, to surrender ourselves entirely to him, 
to cry for his mercy and mediation, to believe, to 
love, to hope, to confess and suffer Christ's 
reproach — these are the fruits of the Spirit against 
which there is no law. Although no time was 
given the thief to bring forth fruit on earth to 
verify his profession of a godly life and to prove 
the genuineness of his conversion by a holy walk, 
yet he performed one of the greatest works which 
any saved sinner ever did. He bore witness to 
the truth — he bore it under trying circumstances 
and before a gain-sa} T ing world. True, his feet 
and his hands were nailed to the cross, and were 



126 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

therefore powerless, but his eye, his heart and his 
tongue were free. His eye was free to gaze upon 
the Son of God ; his heart was free to believe in 
his blessed person, and his tongue was free to con- 
fess his name when all other tongues were silent. 
Had he come down from the cross and lived to 
the age of Methuselah, he could have done nothing 
more glorious, nothing more pleasing to God 
than that which he did during the few brief 
moments of his Christian life — a life begun, con- 
tinued and ended on the cross, so far as this 
world was concerned, but to be resumed in that 
other world in which death cannot enter. 

The marvel of this conversion is that though 
sudden it was complete. It cleared away many 
stages at once. The d} T ing thief did not linger in 
gradual repentance, in dawning faith, in prelud- 
ing prayers or in desires and efforts, before clear 
and indisputable fruit appeared ; but summer and 
harvest, aye, and a rich harvest, trod upon the 
heels of spring. 

Some regard conversion as a mere process of 
training and education and not as a new birth. 
Such ask if it is possible to prepare a person for 
heaven in so short a time ? The answer is, Yes. 
Suppose one was rejoicing in the. birth of a child 
to bear his name and to inherit his property, and 
some one should say, " Wait a little ; the child is 
only just born, it is not yet trained and in- 
structed; do not 3 T et regard it as your son." 
Would he not say, " Away with such reason- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 127 

ing. That child, to be sure, is young — only a 
few hours old, but it is as much my son as if it 
had been born twent}'-one years before." And 
so when a sinner believes in Christ, he is a 
child of God, and God provides for him an in- 
heritance ; and if death should in youth carry 
him hence, he takes him at once to paradise. 

The thief on the cross triumphed not 011I3 7 over 
his habits, passions, desires, and time, but also 
over death. " To-day shalt thou be with me in 
paradise." Here is implied a blessed compan- 
ionship with the eternal King. What could be 
more glorious ? The dying thief, like ourselves, 
was ignorant of the locality of paradise. He 
did not know where it was, what is the condi- 
tion of its inhabitants, or what are their pur- 
suits and pleasures. But he is told in the text 
that he is to be with Jesus. He would be willing 
to remain ignorant of the locality if he could only 
be with Jesus. It is a glorious fact that when 
saints die they at once enter into the presence of 
the great King. He said, "Where I am, there 
shall also my servant be." 

" The promise to be with Jesus comprehends," 
says some one, " all that we can desire. It 
includes perfect pardon ; for would Jesus wel- 
come to his presence in glory any whose dress 
was soiled with sin? It includes perfect sanctifi- 
cation ; for would Jesus invite to his immediate 
presence any who would be reluctant to obey any 
command he mi^ht issue ? " 



128 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 

There is not only companionship with Christ 
promised the dying thief, but companionship with 
him in paradise: " Today shalt thou be with me 
in paradise." Without dwelling on the connec- 
tion which the word paradise is supposed to have 
with heathen nations or with the primitive para- 
dise, the first abode of men embraced the following 
elements, viz., a state of purity or of innocence ; a 
place of beauty, abundance and delight ; a condi- 
tion of peaceful and full satisfaction ; nearness to 
God as a loving Father, and an implied pledge of 
immortality. The Saviour told the thief that 
there was in reserve for him a better world to 
which he would conduct him after death; for 
wherever he himself would be, there should his 
believing people be also. 

There was not only companionship with Christ 
in paradise promised him, but companionship at 
once. " To-day shalt thou be with me in para- 
dise." How close to each other, according to 
this, are pardon and paradise, the cross and the 
crown, the battle and the prize, the wilderness and 
Canaan, the darkest midnight and the morning 
dawn, Calvary and Zion above ! 

What a striking contrast is that which we are 
here permitted to behold — the conscious blessed- 
ness rushing close upon the heels of the momen- 
tary darkness of death ! At one moment there 
hangs the thief writhing in mortal agony; the 
wild shouts of the fierce mob at his feet and all 
the familiar sights of earth growing dim to his 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 129 

failing vision. The soldier's spear is thrust, the 
legs are broken, and, in an instant, there hangs 
a relaxed corpse; and the spirit is — where? 
Ah, how far away; released from all its sins 
and its mortal agony, struggling up, at once, 
into such strange divine enlargement — a "new star 
swimming into the firmament of heaven, a new 
face before the throne of God, another sinner 
redeemed from earth ! Thus from the greatest 
depth of sin, the Lord Jesus often gathers his 
brightest jewels. Paul was a persecutor, Zaccheus 
a publican, the man of Gadara a demoniac and the 
woman of Samaria an adulteress ; and yet the 
grace of God went plunging through the depths 
of their sin and ignorance until it found them 
and brought them up to the light of life. There 
is no depth the/ bottom of which grace cannot 
touch. " All over the Dead Sea of sin covering 
the nations at the present time, God's diving- 
bells," says some one, " are busy ; all through the 
mountains of death, God's miners are blasting." 
Where sin aboundeth, grace shall much more 
abound. 

Though we are permitted to rejoice in the 
boundless nature of God's love, though we are 
told that whilst there is life there is hope, yet 
there is no safety in putting off our conversion 
a single day. It is said of the man swept down 
the Niagara River, that before his little skiff tilts 
over into the whirling rapids, he ma} T , by one 
bound, reach the shore and be saved. This, how- 



130 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS; 

ever, is a fearful risk to run. For a moment's 
miscalculation and skiff and voyager alike are 
buried in the seething trough below, and they 
come up torn to pieces far down on the turbulent 
foam. " One/' as an old divine has said, " was 
saved at the last moment upon the cross, that 
none might despair; and only one that none 
might presume." "Now is the accepted time; 
now is the day of salvation." 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE CONVERSION OF A PRIME MINISTER- 
THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. 



Acts vlii. 26-39 : " And the angel of the Lord spake unto 
Philip saying, Arise, and go toward the south," etc. 



THE remaining persons, whose conversions 
are to be considered in this volume, differ 
in important particulars from those whose 
conversions have already been under considera- 
tion. Their surroundings in youth, their early 
instruction, and their social positions were unlike 
those of Zaccheus, the blind beggar, or the De- 
moniac of Gadara. It is not necessary to add 
that there was but little resemblance between 
their conversion and that of the women whose 
lives we have endeavored to depict. 

The majority of the persons whose conver- 
sion has already been considered were humble, 
uneducated, and of but little influence in the 
community. The seeming exception was Zac- 
cheus, but that was only a little more than a 
131 



lo2 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

seeming exception. For be was probably a man 
of bumble origin and of limited early advantages, 
but had acquired some influence through his 
wealth. His calling kept him from places of 
importance in the government, as well as from 
high social positions in the community. Con- 
sequently the conversions which have been con- 
sidered were largely those of the poor. 

The conversions which are to occupy our 
attention to the end of this course are those of 
men of the highest character socially, politically 
and intellectually. The Eunuch in the text was 
an Ethiopian nobleman of high rank and influ- 
ence. Cornelius was a member of one of the most 
distinguished families of Rome, and Saul of Tar- 
sus, a Pharisee of the rarest intellectual powers. 

Attention has been called to a number of the 
difficulties which had to be overcome by the 
poor in their efforts to find the Saviour. At 
times they seemed almost insurmountable. In 
the remaining discourses your attention will be 
called to the difficulties to be overcome by the 
rich. In these days of mission churches and zeal 
for the poor, there is some danger of overlooking 
the rich, and of neglecting their spiritual needs. 
The destitution of the poor is brought before us 
in a thousand forms, but that of the rich is 
seldom dwelt upon. Even those who regularly 
attend the house of God, are not often appealed 
to in the same burning terms as the poor. Their 
difficulties are overlooked and sometimes set aside 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 133 

unappreciated. In the second half of the last 
century, Mr. Courtonne, a celebrated pastor of 
Amsterdam, visited the Hague and the court 
of the Prince of Orange. He was surrounded by 
the officers of the Stadtholder who pressed him 
to preach for them on the Sabbath. He refused, 
saying that the Prince and his nobility would be 
offended at his plain, uncompromising way of 
presenting the truth. They promised that the 
household of the Prince would be at church, 
and that no one would be offended at what 
he might present. Upon this assurance, he 
consented to preach. When the Sabbath came, 
the church was crowded with the nobility and 
members of Parliament. The preacher took for 
his text the words at the head of this chapter. 
The theme was the conversion of the Ethiopian 
statesman, and the divisions of the discourse were 
the following: namely, first, "A courtier who read 
the Scriptures, which is surprising; second, a 
courtier who acknowledged his ignorance, which 
is more -surprising ; third, a courtier who asked 
his inferior to instruct him, which should cause 
the redoubling of our surprise; and lastly, a 
courtier who was converted, which caps the 
climax of wonders." The state of things in our 
own claj^ is not quite so bad, perhaps, and yet 
it is still true that not many mighty are called. 
A few of the difficulties in the way of the 
Eunuch's conversion are given by Luke in the 
Acts of the Apostles. He was an Ethiopian 



134 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

nobleman of high rank — perhaps of the highest — 
for none but such were generally appointed cham- 
berlains of monarchs, or lords of the treasury. 
Jt is not possible to tell with certainty what was 
this man's nationality. The champions of the 
colored race persistent^ hold that he was a full- 
blooded negro. They claim that they have traced 
his pedigree from some of the old Ethiopian fami- 
lies which had carried the marks of that race from 
time immemorial. We are not prepared to deny 
positively that the Lord Chamberlain of Queen 
Candace was a colored man. For we know that 
not a few of the highest officers of Mexico and 
Brazil to-day belong to that race. 

It must be confessed, however, that there are 
important circumstances connected with the 
incident before us, which suggest that the Eunuch 
was a Jew and not a negro. It is affirmed by a 
trustworthy historian that a large number of 
Jews had settled at an early day in and around 
the capital of Queen Candace. It is further 
stated that the prime minister in the text went 
up to Jerusalem to attend the yearly feasts of 
the Jews. Hence, we may reasonabty infer that 
he was a Jew, born perhaps in Ethiopia. How- 
ever this may be, the first barrier to his con- 
version remains the same, viz., a strong religious 
prejudice. If he was an Ethiopian he would have 
adhered to the gods of his fathers and despised 
the worship of the God of Israel. If, on the 
other hand, he was a Jew, he would have 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEESIONS. 135 

shown the hatred of that race toward the de- 
spised Galilean. 

The second difficulty was his position in the 
government. He held the most important office 
under the sovereign. He was the Lord Cham- 
berlain, or, as we would call him, the Secretary 
of the Treasur}\ And, as the sovereign was a 
woman, it is quite likely that he was virtually the 
ruler. He exercised great power over a nation 
both large and influential. He might have ex- 
cused himself on this account for not attending to 
his soul's interest. Or, he might have looked 
down upon religion, regarding it only as an 
object fitted to cheer the poor and occupy the 
minds of women and children. Many in his 
position have resorted to such subterfuges. The 
temptations of the rich and influential are often 
stronger than most men who are not similarly 
situated suppose. 

Then, his association was such as to drive away 
all thoughts of religion. He had to live night 
and day in the midst of gaiety and fashion. As 
the highest officer of the realm, it devolved upon 
him to entertain distinguished foreign guests, 
and treat with courtesy and kindness the home 
princes ; to respect national prejudices and pro- 
tect, if not worship, the gods of the land. He 
was expected to be all things to all men. Such 
duties are not adapted to lead men to think of 
their soul's salvation. The exercise of power 
does not usually foster humility. 



136 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

Though this man was in possession of almost 
limitless power and fame, } T et he was not happ} r . 
Though he had abundance of wealth so that he 
could say with the man in the gospel : " Soul, thou 
hast much goods laid up for many years ; take 
thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," yet he was 
not above and beyond anxiety. In some way, not 
revealed to us, he had discovered that he was a 
sinner, but he had not found how he could 
obtain pardon. His conscience had told him of 
guilt, but no one had pointed out to him the 
world's Redeemer. He left Jerusalem under a 
load of grief, deeply sighing : " wretched man 
that I am." He was spoken of perhaps as one of 
the successful ones of the earth and, on that 
account, was supposed to be alwa} T s happy. 
But the Spirit of God had begun his work of 
reproving him of sin and of righteousness and 
of judgment, and consequently all his riches 
and honors failed to satisfy his longings. His 
soul thirsted for God, for the living God. He 
drank of the world's pleasures, but he discovered 
that whoso drinketh of that water thirsteth again. 
His soul sought goodly pearls ; but the pearls of 
the world, valuable and bright as they had for- 
merly seemed to him were now of no value in his 
eyes. He was made to desire the good part that 
should not be taken from him. 

Should it be asked what were the means used 
to bring the Ethiopian to this state of mind, the 
only answer that can be given is that we are not 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 137 

told. We know that God has many ways and 
messengers for this purpose. He may have 
used, in the Eunuch's case, disappointments in 
the things which he longed and labored for. His 
worldly ambition may have been gratified, and 
his brightest hopes realized. All that his imagina- 
tion had pictured as a desirable good may have 
been gained. But he did not find any of them 
satisfying to the soul. He may have frequently 
soliloquized, " This will make me happy, fill my 
soul with perennial sunshine, give me peace and 
tranquillity ! But, alas ! it leaves me as empty as 
I was before." Or, perhaps, some great affliction, 
bitter grief, or sore disappointment — the treach- 
ery of a friend, or the ingratitude of a dependent 
— may have led him to reflect. Or, some captive 
may have told him of a rest which he might find 
for his soul in the land of Israel. 

The second step taken to satisfy the longings 
of his soul was to go up to Jerusalem. Having 
heard that there was a place in which God 
revealed himself to his people, he could not rest 
till he had visited it. This occurred the very year 
in which Christ was crucified. He had possibly 
heard of him from priests and rulers. He may 
have been a visitor in the Sanhedrin when Christ's 
character and deeds were discussed. He may 
have witnessed the trial before Pilate, mingled 
with the multitude that followed Jesus along the 
Yia Dolorosa to the summit of Calvary and seen 
him hanging upon the cross. He may have heard 



138 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

of his miracles and been present at the preaching 
of Peter on the day of Pentecost. He may have 
tried everything and gone everywhere for rest, but 
failed to find it. The priests may have exhorted 
him to be thankful for his blessings and to 
abandon his melancholy forebodings. They may 
have called his attention to his prosperity; to 
the gifts and graces he possessed ; to the spheres 
of usefulness he had filled ; and to the honors 
which had been heaped upon him. All this only 
made him cry: "Conscience! religion!" They 
may have replied : " Are you not conscientiously 
religious ? Who can charge you with injustice or 
unkindness?" He continued, ''Death! the 
future ! " They may have asked : " Can you not 
accept the teaching of the law and the prophets 
regarding them ? " He heard nothing from these 
ministers of religion but commendations of his 
merits, flattery and fulsome eulogies. But they 
failed to satisfy him. They proved sheer mock- 
eries. In despair he cried, " I must have truth, 
not opinions ; sunlight, not the fitful phosphores- 
cence of the imagination ; solid instruction, not 
foolish flattery ; a living one, even a Father who 
can forgive, love and guide, not cold abstraction 
which, after all, refers me to myself as my helper 
and saviour." He did not find in the Jewish 
religion what he came for and diligently sought! 
Notice, next, the means which brought this 
anxious statesman to Christ and salvation. He 
was returning to Ethiopia with his wounds un- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 139 

healed, though probed to the bottom ; with his 
fears unallayed, though painfully quickened; 
with his anxiety unremoved, though greatly 
deepened. Look at him ! Within were found 
uncertaint}", terror, anguish ; at the same time, 
humility, longing for God, and prayerfulness. In 
his hands was the word of God, opened at the 
fifty-third chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. He 
was searching in it after the water of life as 
eagerly as he would have searched near a group 
of palm trees after a cooling spring. An instinct, 
stimulated by what he had seen and heard at 
Jerusalem, told him that somewhere near this 
spot the water of life would be found. He was 
reading the words : " He bore our sins." What ? 
my sins ? " He was led as a lamb to the slaugh- 
ter." Here he paused ! He could not go further. 
Great tears gathered in the dark e} T e of the dis- 
tinguished courtier and dropped on the pages 
of the book in his hands. " Led as a lamb to the 
slaughter ! " This recalled to him the Man of Sor- 
rows whom he saw nailed to the cross. He dwelt 
alternately on the verse just read and the strange 
scenes he had lately witnessed. His heart was 
throbbing and his eyes swimming with tears. 
Of whom then speaketh the prophet ? Of him- 
self, or of some other man ? Does not the word 
point directly to the other man who had just died 
on the accursed tree ? Those looks and tones 
were more like heaven than earth. " When he 
was reviled he reviled not again." When the 



140 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

dying thief at bis side exclaimed : " Lord, remem- 
ber me," he answered, " To-day shalt thou be 
with me in paradise." That other man ! " Of 
whom speaketk the prophet thus ? " 

So animated grew the reader, and so loud be- 
came the tones of his voice, that Philip, who was 
near, heard the interrogatories. He was anxious 
to help him, but was deterred by his official 
dignity. At that moment " the Spirit said unto 
Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." 
Mark the coincidence! The Spirit, who had led 
the mind of the Eunuch to the fifty-third chapter 
of Isaiah, brought from Samaria an inspired ex- 
pounder of the mysterious passage ! Upon this 
simple act depended untold interests ! " God's 
ways are in the sea, and his paths in the great 
waters." u If his purposes in creation," says Dr. 
Arnot, " require the meeting of two circling 
worlds at some period in the evolution of time, 
he will so arrange that the two shall approach 
and touch each other at the very point of space 
and time which he has designed." The same 
might and wisdom have been at work to 
arrange a meeting wherever and whenever one 
earthen vessel charged bears Christ, and another 
earthen vessel empty receives Christ at a broth- 
er's hand. The Spirit not only brought the two 
men together, but he enabled the evangelist to 
speak a word in season, and gave the Eunuch a 
hearing ear and an understanding heart. Here 
we behold the humility, meekness and docile spirit 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEKSIOXS. 141 

of the great man : " How can I understand unless 
some one guide me ? " How ignorant often are 
even the most cultivated men, of the things per- 
taining to the salvation of their souls ! 

Finding the distinguished statesman ready to 
listen to his exposition, Philip preached unto him 
the gospel. The sermon is not given. The most 
meagre outline only is preserved. " Then Philip 
opened his mouth, and began at the same scrip- 
ture." It was the same Scripture as that which 
the Eunuch was reading, namely, the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah. A more remarkable passage 
of Scripture cannot be found. The evangelist 
could not preach anything from it save Christ 
and him crucified. He held up to the unknown 
traveler the one whom he saw on the cross as 
the Saviour of the world. The doctrine of the 
cross was pressed upon his attention and con- 
science with simple but telling power. It was 
not only Jesus, but Jesus as the Saviour of the 
high and the low alike. It was Jesus then and 
there. 

Notice, lastly, the effect of the preaching, 
upon the mind, heart and life of the Ethiopian 
statesman. It was threefold, viz. : To believe in 
Christ, to confess him before the world, and 
to go his way rejoicing. As he listened to 
the telling truths contained in the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah, a new light and a new hope 
sprang up in his heart. He became convinced 
that the Messiah was the person whom he saw 



142 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

hanging on the tree. He accepted the declaration 
that he was the Christ. He cast himself as a 
helpless sinner on his mercy. He embraced the 
Son of God in all his fulness as the Lord's 
anointed. He made a complete surrender of him- 
self to him and declared that all he was and all 
he had were Christ's ! 

He not only believed in Christ, but he yielded 
to the promptings of the Spirit in the heart. He 
did not wait until Philip urged upon him the 
necessity of being baptized : " See, here is water; 
what doth hinder me to be baptized ? I wish to 
be a thorough convert. I am saved by grace and 
am glad to have the opportunity to show my 
appreciation of the blessing." His baptism was, 
therefore, a manifestation of his faith and a proof 
of his obedience and submission to the will of 
God. He was not ashamed to own, by this sim- 
ple, visible act, his allegiance to the crucified 
Nazarene, and his belief in his divinity. 

Having committed his all to Christ and been 
baptized in his name, " He went on his way 
rejoicing." This did not diminish the leagues of 
desert to be traversed before he would reach his 
home ; it did not temper for him the ra} T s of the 
tropical sun falling upon his head ; it did not 
excuse him from further duty ; but it did cast a 
new light on the desert he was crossing ; it did 
assure him that the sun would not smite him by 
day ; and it did furnish him with new motives 
for the performance of future duties. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 143 

If the religion of Christ were calculated to make 
any one sad and morose, it would have so made 
the great courtier of Queen Candace. He knew 
that it required him to give up many of his indul- 
gences, much of his gaiety and perhaps the entire 
mode of his life. But, instead of making him sad, 
it caused him to rejoice. This is in harmony with 
the character of our religion. It should always 
be judged by what it brings and by what it 
takes away. It brings to us a sense of accept- 
ance with God, and consequent rest of the soul; 
it brings to us a life which is both bright and joy- 
ful. It takes away from us the fear of death, 
the strifes within us, the fierce conflict which 
rages between our conscience and our inclinations, 
between our will and our passions, which tears 
the heart asunder and makes sorrow and tumult 
wherever it comes. It takes away the sense of 
sin. It gives us, instead of the torpid or the 
stinging conscience — a conscience calm and free 
from accusations, with the sting extracted. The 
gospel works joy, because the soul is at rest in 
God ; joy because every function of our spiritual 
nature finds in it its object. It is both deep and 
abiding. 

All this was experienced by the Ethiopian, for 
he went on his way rejoicing. He expected that 
afflictions, trials and temptations still awaited 
him in the idolatrous capital of Queen Candace, 
and in her God-estranged court, but he knew, on 
the other hand, that Christ had died for him, 



144 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

that faith was the victory which overcometh the 
world, that God was a sun and a shield, and that 
he would give grace and glory. 

What hinders you, dear reader, to become a 
follower of Christ ? There can be nothing on 
his part ! For he has come to seek and to save 
that which was lost. He calls j r ou ; his offers of 
pardon and peace are full and free, kind and 
urgent, tender and loving ; his work is finished 
and his redemption is complete. What doth 
hinder you ? Is it your sin ? Christ died for the 
ungodly ; he calls sinners to repentance. Is it 
your past ingratitude and open rejection of his 
mercy ? Though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be white as snow. Is it your want of re- 
pentance ? Christ is exalted a Prince and a 
Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins. 
What doth hinder } t ou then ? 

" Let not conscience make you linger, 
Nor of fitness fondly dream ; 
All the fitness he requireth 
Is to feel your need of him." 



Chapter x. 



THE CONVERSION OF A MAN OF THE 
HIGHEST SOCIAL STANDING- 
CORNELIUS. 



Acts x. 1-48 : "There was a certain man in Csesarea, called. 
Cornelius, a centurion of the baud called the Italian band," 
etc. 

IN view of the brevity of Scripture on the 
subject, it is surprising to find a whole 
chapter devoted to the conversion of one 
man. The steps taken are given with a minute- 
ness of detail that seems almost unaccountable. 
Is this due to the fact that the person converted 
was an officer of note under the Roman govern- 
ment ? Has it been done in order to magnify the 
power of the Christian religion to reach the heart 
of the mighty as well as of the weak ? That can- 
not be. For it is explicitly said in the same chap- 
ter that God is no respecter of persons. He does 
not fail into the weakness common among men of 
making a display of the conversion of any one 
because he exerts a mighty influence in the world. 
145 



146 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

There is probably close connection between the 
Saviour's great command, " Go into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature," and the 
conversion of the centurion. Christ had come 
not only to be the glory of his people Israel, 
but to be also a light to lighten the Gentiles. He 
came, it is true, to hold the sceptre in Juclah, but 
it is equally true that to him must also the gather- 
ing of the nations be. The Gentiles were to be 
fellow-heirs and of the same body by the gospel. 
The conversion of Cornelius, therefore, marks the 
beginning of this promise. The way the door 
was opened for their entrance, or the steps were 
taken toward demolishing the middle wall of par- 
tition between them are carefully given. Corne- 
lius formed the joint where the Gentile branch 
w T as grafted into the true vine. 

This Roman soldier has often been compared 
to the father of the faithful. It is held that what 
Abraham was to the Jews, Cornelius was to the 
Gentiles. He was the first Gentile publicly ad- 
mitted by the apostle into the Christian Church. 
With him began a new era in the kingdom of God 
on earth, and from him may be dated " the 
times of the Gentiles." Cornelius was not merely 
the representative and the earnest of a great 
multitude which no man can number, who, be- 
sides God's ancient people, are to be gathered 
out of all nations and kindreds and peoples and 
tongues, but his conversion and the outpouring 
of the Spirit upon him and all who, with him, 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVEKSIONS. 147 

heard the word preached by Peter, were the 
events which formed a turning-point in the views 
and efforts of the apostles. It was the dawn of a 
day of light and joy for the Gentile world. As 
God chose, called and separated Abraham to be 
the father of the Hebrews according to the flesh, 
so was Cornelius chosen to be the beginning of 
the Gentile Church, and hence, probably, the space 
devoted and the importance attached to the con- 
version of this distinguished Gentile. 

The person thus chosen to be the first fruits of 
the Gentiles was one of the most attractive and 
lovely in the world's history. In his noble char- 
acter he blended those elements which every- 
where command respect and love. He was not 
only a captain of the Italian band, which im- 
plies that he was a Roman, but he had inherited 
the frank, open and manly traits of that nation. 
Whilst he could not cringe and fawn to the high- 
est of the high, he could not, on the other hand, 
be discourteous to the lowest of the low. 

He was not only a Roman, but probably a 
member of the patrician branch of the Cornelian 
family, the most distinguished in the empire. 
By virtue of his social standing, he mingled in 
the best society in Rome, enjoyed the highest 
culture of his times, and the greatest political 
advantages of the age. He was sent with a por- 
tion of a Roman legion as the body guard of the 
governor of Syria, who had his home in the old 
city of Csesarea. 



148 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

Whilst stationed there he became convinced 
that the gods of the nations were dumb idols 
which could impart neither light nor peace to 
the soul ; consequently he turned to the God 
of the Jews and adopted his worship. He 
studied the Scriptures, witnessed the devotions of 
the people of Palestine and admired their conduct. 
Though his knowledge of these things was de- 
fective, his privileges meagre, and his opportuni- 
ties limited, yet he made the best use of what he 
possessed. 

Through long residence in Caesarea and by 
mingling extensively with the Jews, he became 
" a devout man, one that feared God with all his 
house, who gave much alms to the people, and 
prayed to God always." There is, probably, no 
church in our day which would not be willing to 
receive into her communion a man of his social 
and official standing, his devotional spirit and 
benevolent disposition. Two views have been 
entertained regarding the spiritual condition of 
Cornelius — one makes him a proselyte of the 
Jewish Church, and a truly pious man ; the other 
makes him like the young man in the gospel, 
almost a Christian. It is alleged, in favor of the 
former, that " fearing God " is a term often ap- 
plied to proselytes of the gates ; that Cornelius 
offered up his prayers at the usual hours among 
the Jews ; that he had read the Old Testament ; 
that he had paid the tithes required by the Jewish 
law, and that he had conferred upon the Jews 



NEW TESTAMENT CON VERSIONS. 149 

man}' valuable gifts. In support of the second 
view, it is said that " fearing God " is a term fre- 
quently applied in Scripture to persons studious 
of piety and filled with reverence ; that Peter 
calls him a person of another race, with whom it 
was not lawful for a Jew to associate, while 
there was nothing in the law to prohibit associa- 
ting with proselj- tes ; that the news of his conver- 
sion and the opposition made to Peter on account 
of it shows he could not be a proselyte, and that 
he is expressly classed among the Gentiles by the 
apostle James. For these reasons it is difficult to 
conclude that Cornelius was a Jewish prosetyte. 

On the theory that he was a Gentile, he appears 
to have received much light and knowledge from 
the Jews. He was convinced that theirs was the 
true God ; hence he worshiped him essentially 
after the manner of the Jews, and showed by his 
alms and charitable deeds his obligation to him as 
the bestower of every good and every perfect gift. 
With all this, he lacked one thing. To fear and 
reverence God, to try to obey his commandments, 
to be kind and helpful to our fellow-men, to medi- 
tate on divine truth and to lift up our hearts to 
heaven in prayer, are goodly pearls, but they do 
not constitute the pearl of great price, whose pos- 
session is satisfying to the soul. All these make 
a sweet and beautiful character, but not neces- 
sarily the character of a true Christian. Seeking 
God is not the Saviour ; the Saviour is no act of 
ours, no frame of mind, no virtuous exertion; he 



150 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

is a living person, who gives himself, that the 
soul may find spiritual rest. Cornelius had many 
good traits, but he lacked the one thing needful. 
A man may speak with the tongues of men and of 
angels; have the gift of prophecj", and understand 
all mysteries and all knowledge ; bestow all his 
goods to feed the poor, and give his bod}' to be 
burned, and yet, for the lack of one thing, be as 
sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal — of no 
value in the sight of God. We should pray to be 
delivered from the shallow advice, that a man 
should be satisfied with praying and doing his 
best! As if prayers were not means to an end, 
as if the one who really prays does not look for 
the answer, clearly and unmistakably God's an- 
swer, to whom he has cried. The man who is sat- 
isfied with praying and giving, has never prayed 
aright, and has never given from true love to God. 
From all this we learn that irreproachable 
morality and religious rounds of duty cannot 
save the soul. The question, what would have 
become of Cornelius if he had died before the 
apostle's visit to him, is au idle one. God takes 
care of all such contingencies ; but it must be 
admitted that the inference is not a groundless 
one when we remember Cornelius' own account of 
the angel's bidding. " Send men to Joppa, and 
call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who, when 
he cometh, shall speak unto thee." It may be 
essential to some of you, w T hose characters, as far 
as they are outwardly seen, secure for you no 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 151 

small degree of affectionate interest and esteem — 
characters honorable, moral, amiable, reverential 
— I say it ma}' be essential that yon too should 
meditate on the words, " Thou art not far from 
the kingdom of God," not far from it, yet not in 
it. One thing your religion lacks, and may not 
that thing be a simple, believing faith in Christ as 
your Saviour? Ponder, I pray } t ou, the Evan- 
gelist's testimony, so like that of the Baptist : 
" He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that 
hath not the Son of God hath not life." Beware 
of a religion in which Christ does not occupy his 
proper place, as the Alpha and the Omega, the 
first and the last, the all and in all ! 

Notice, secondly, some of the hindrances in the 
way of Cornelius's acceptance of the one thing 
needful. The first one in his way to become 
a Christian was doubtless his pride of blood. 
Could a member of the Cornelian band ever 
become identified with Jews? Could a proud 
aristocratic officer of the Roman army worship 
with the most despised of the subdued provinces 
of Rome ( Could he bear the taunts of his rivals 
and even those of his own family, and run the 
risk of being dismissed from the Roman service? 
His proud, unyiekling spirit rebelled against all 
this. How much less could he become the fol- 
lower of a despised Galilean whom his govern- 
ment had recently put to death in the Jewish 
capital ! 

There was in Cornelius's way not only pride of 



152 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

blood, but perplexity as to Christ's character. 
All the religion possessed by him he had received 
from the Jews and the Jewish Scriptures; and 
now, those very Jews, with their ecclesiastical 
authorities at their head, had put Christ to death 
as an impostor, and laid Christianity under inter- 
dict and anathema. Cornelius had heard of 
Christ, his wonderful life and his tragic death. 
He was at a loss to know what to believe in 
regard to him, and what dependence to place in 
his claims to be the Messiah. 

His profession also proved a hindrance to his 
becoming a follower of Christ. There was an 
impression in those days that a soldier could not 
be a Christian. His duties were thought to con- 
flict with the principles inculcated by Christ and 
his apostles. This impression has existed to a 
greater or less extent ever since. One illustra- 
tion will suffice. During some of the unhappy 
troubles in Ireland, an officer in the army of Lord 
Cornwallis was observed to be daily absent for a 
time from his quarters and the company of his 
comrades. This led to the suspicion that he was 
holding intercourse with the rebels, and to his 
trial by a court-martial, which resulted in finding 
him guilty of treason and in condemning him to 
be shot. On hearing this, the Marquis resolved 
to read the minutes of the trial, and, finding in 
them a number of unsatisfactory and unaccount- 
able things, he sent for the tried and condemned 
man, to learn his explanation. Upon being inter- 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 153 

rogated, he solemnly disavowed every treason- 
able practice or intention, declared his sincere 
attachment to his sovereign, and his readiness to 
live or die in his service ; he affirmed that the 
cause of his frequent absences was his withdrawal 
to a place of retirement for the purpose of private 
prayer, for which his lordship knew he had no 
opportunity among his profane fellow-officers. 
He averred that he had made this defense on his 
trial, but that the judges declared piety among 
military officers an impossibility. In order to 
satisfy himself in regard to the truth of his de- 
fense, the Marquis observed that, if so, he must 
have acquired considerable aptness in this exer- 
cise. The convicted man replied that in that 
direction he had nothing to boast of. The Mar- 
quis then insisted on his kneeling down and pray- 
ing aloud before him ; which he did, and poured 
forth his soul before God, with such copiousness, 
fluency and ardor, that the Marquis took him by 
the hand, and said he was satisfied that no man 
could pray in that manner who did not live in the 
habit of intercourse with God. He not only 
revoked the sentence, but received him into his 
special favor, placing him on his staff and in the 
line of promotion. Thus, the centurion, in spite 
of the difficulties arising from blood, mental per- 
plexities and profession, was led to the feet of 
Jesus. 

In some of its aspects, his conversion was 
almost miraculous. First, he received a commu- 



154: NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 

nication through the instrumentality of angels. 
Perhaps it required a divine interposition to pre- 
pare the Gentile world for the reception of the 
saving truths of the gospel. At any rate, Corne- 
lius was visited b}- an angel. " He saw in a vision 
clearly, about the ninth hour of the da} r , an angel 
of God." He approached him in human form: 
"A man stood before me in bright clothing." 
From this we see that celestial intelligences ap- 
peared in New Testament times. Painters and 
poets give us angels with wings, but in none of 
the records of the visits of angels to our world 
do we find them thus endowed. The appearance 
of this celestial messenger struck fear into the 
heart of Cornelius: "He was afraid, and said, 
What is it, Lord?" It is probable that the best 
way into the heart of a brave soldier is through 
his fear. 

The angel brought words of encouragement to 
the trembling sinner. He said unto him, " Thy 
prayers and thine alms are come up for a memo- 
rial before God." His good character, his devout 
spirit and his supplications were recognized in 
heaven. He had acted according to the light 
he had enjoyed, and consequently God was ready 
to give him more. Every breath of sincere prayer 
and every generous act of the soul went up as 
sweet incense from the altar of the heart. I 
incline to the belief, or perhaps the conjecture, of 
Mede, that very possibly Cornelius had been 
laying his perplexities before the Lord in prayer, 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 155 

and asking divine guidance as to what lie should 
believe and do, concerning Jesus of Nazareth. 

The angel gave direction to " send men to 
Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is 
Peter : he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to 
do." Why not tell it thyself, thou blessed mes- 
senger of Jehovah ? Thou knowest, as well as 
Peter, what the centurion is required to do ! The 
gospel is to be preached by men, not by angels. 
God in his love and compassion has ordained 
that men saved from sin, death and hell, and 
animated by the constraining love of Christ, 
should be his ambassadors, and declare with all 
authority and certainty, and yet with tender s} T m- 
pathy and pity^, the salvation which is in Christ. 
The messenger of peace on this occasion was 
Simon Peter. At this Cornelius ma}^ have been 
surprised. The teacher was not a Pharisee nor 
a scribe, not one of the priests nor of the Levites 
— but one Simon whose surname is Peter. He 
was to send, not to Jerusalem, not to the tem- 
ple, not to the synagogue, not to Gamaliel, nor 
to one of his disciples — but to Joppa, a small 
town on the seacoast, and to a lodger at the 
house of Simon the tanner. What marvelous cir- 
cumstantiality ! What poet would have dared to 
put these minute local directions into the mouth 
of an angel ? And why not ? Because poets, as 
one has well said, " do not dare to be as poetical 
as God's wa3 T s and God's truths are in reality. 
For it is the highest poetry, and, blessed be God, 



156 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

the truest fact, that God knows and sees and 
remembers all ; that the house where Mary 
dwells and Martha and Lazarus — the homes of 
all his people, however poor and obscure they 
may be, are well known to him." 

Men still receive visions and dream dreams 
which arrest them in the way of sin. You may 
have read the account of the conversion of 
Colonel Gardner. He was one of the boldest 
sinners of his day. Whilst spending an evening 
of folly with some of his gay companions, he 
accidentally discovered a tract which his pious 
mother had put in his portmanteau, called 
"Christian Soldier, or Heaven Taken by Storm." 
Before retiring that night he read the tract, 
hoping to extract some amusement from it. 
But, before he laid it aside, he fell asleep, or 
rather into a reverie, and saw a vision like that 
of Cornelius, not of angels, but of Christ him- 
self hanging in midair on the cross, looking 
directly at him, and saying with his last breath : 
" ! sinner, did I suffer thus for thee, and are 
these the returns ? " This led him to study the 
Scriptures and consult those who could direct 
him in the way of life. He was not saved by 
the vision, but the vision led him to the truth 
which made him free. 

Notice, next, the preaching of Peter to the 
centurion and his family : " Peter opened his 
mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is 
no respecter of persons : but in every nation he 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 157 

that fearetli him, and worketh righteousness, is 
accepted with him." Three important truths are 
taught us in this address : First, the universality 
of the plan of salvation. It is not confined to 
any special people or particular famity, or to a 
given condition or calling. It is for all. God 
is no respecter of persons. No matter whether 
one is rich or poor, high or low, learned or 
unlearned, he is invited to secure tlie salvation 
of his soul. The merits of the atonement are 
sufficient for all ; the force of moral motive is 
adapted to all, and the agency of the Spirit is 
available to all. 

The second truth is that the only character ac- 
ceptable to God is that which worketh righteous- 
ness. It is that which leads to a right conduct in 
relation to man, God, and the universe. Man is 
not accepted because of his Judaism or Gentilism, 
not because of his birth, his country or his par- 
ticular form of worship, but because of his moral 
rectitude. 

Here is further taught us the mediator ship of 
Christ: "Preaching peace by Jesus Christ." 
What the apostle says of Christ's mission is in 
substance the same as that which he proclaims in 
his discourse on the clay of Pentecost. He shows 
that his mission was divine in its origin, redemp- 
tive in its purpose and universal in its applica- 
tion. 

The third fact taught us in the conversion of 
Cornelius is the effusion of the Holy Ghost. 



158 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

This was just as necessary to the conversion of 
the Gentiles as to that of the Jews. The divine 
Spirit, in its regenerating and redemptive influ- 
ences, must ever follow the blood. The gospel 
is the channel through which this holy influence 
flows into the soul. The gospel is the chariot on 
which the divine Conqueror marches forth to sub- 
due his enemies and to take possession of the 
land promised him of the Father. The Spirit, in 
connection with the word preached by Peter, 
effected the conversion of Cornelius. 

Thus by varied means God opened the heart 
of the Gentile soldier, and the great folding-doors 
of the Church which form an entrance into the 
outside world. There is significance in the 
absence here of pomp and striking circumstances. 
It shows that in the higher and richer dispensa- 
tion of the gospel, the revelations of the Holy 
Ghost are given with less of outward display, but 
with more of inward power; that his influence, in 
proportion as it is spiritual, resembles the dew 
and seldom exceeds the measure of the small 
rain on the mown grass. The Lord is less in the 
hurricane, the earthquake and the flame than in 
the still small voice. As in the material world 
the mightiest agencies are the least seen and 
heard, so in the kingdom of Christ. He writes 
his laws in our hearts with a silent pen, whose 
inscription is never effaced. His government 
is a government of persuasive love, but love is 
neither loud nor demonstrative. 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 159 

The outward manifestations of Cornelius's con- 
version are very much the same as those wit- 
nessed since his day. Though a member of the 
proud and aristocratic Cornelian family, though 
a Roman by birth and education, and though a 
military officer of high rank under the governor 
of Syria, he did not shrink from the publicity 
connected with acknowledging the lowly Jesus as 
his Lord and Master. He and all his house were 
baptized. Thus, he not only declared to Jews 
and Gentiles his covenant relations with the 
world's Redeemer, but brought his loved ones 
also into the same blessed relations. Encouraging 
thought! Grace not onlj^ flows down like water, 
so that from the head of the house it reaches the 
youngest, " but it also, by a cognate law," says 
Dr. Arnot, " rises up like vapor, so that it may 
find its way from a godly child to a worldly 
father. Parents should bring their house to the 
Church and bring the Church to their house." 

Cornelius not only showed his willingness to 
become an open follower of Christ by being bap- 
tized, but he showed also his readiness to be 
thoroughly identified with his humble followers. 
He urged Peter to stay at his house that he 
might learn of him his duty and talk with him 
over the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom ! 
He desired Christian fellowship and the prayers 
of a good man. Happ}- house ! Above it heaven 
was open, from it prayers ascended, and into it 
angels came from heaven. 



160 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

We learn once more from this incident that the 
river of life does not branch out into divers 
streams. It is the same to Jews and Gentiles. 
" There is not a broad sweep of water," says 
some one, " for the rich, the intellectual and the 
cultivated, and a little scanty rill where the poor 
now and then come and get healed by the side 
of its precarious wave. There is no costly sana- 
tarium beneath whose shade patrician leprosy 
may get by itself to be fashionably sprinkled. 
Naaman, with all his retinue watching, must 
come and dip and plunge like common men in the 
Jordan. The haughty son of the Cornelian 
family must be saved like the blind beggar at the 
gates of Jericho." 



Chapter xi. 



THE CONVERSION OF A GREAT GENIUS— 
SAUL OF TARSUS. 



Acts ix. 1-9: 'And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings 
and slaughter," etc. 

EXCEPT Christ's advent and the descent of 
the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, there is 
no event in the world's history of greater 
importance to the race, or of richer blessings to 
the Church, than the conversion of Saul of 
Tarsus. It was the starting point of many of 
the mightiest forces which have been used of 
Providence to mould the Church and the world. 
Whether we consider the heart, the head, or the 
outward conduct of .this Cilician Jew, we are 
compelled to regard him as one of the most 
remarkable men of the ages. 

The rare qualities of Saul's heart are often 
overshadowed by his peerless intellect. Amongst 
the former may be mentioned his deep humility 
and unaffected devotion to God's cause. He 
was unyielding when he believed that truth and 
principle were involved ; he was gentle and 
161 



162 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

tender, whenever he had to deal with believers 
who were weak in the faith; he was self-denying 
and patient when he was persecuted for Christ's 
sake ; he was affectionate as a mother, toward his 
son Timothy ; his heart was read}' to be sacrificed 
for Israel, his kinsmen according to the flesh, and 
his sympathies were world-wide in their scope. 

None but those who have carefully studied his 
epistles can form an adequate conception of his 
intellectual powers. Luther discovered in his 
writings a treasure which filled his soul with 
peace and joy. On their radiant pages, earnest, 
struggling souls still find such accurate descrip- 
tions of their inmost feelings and thoughts, such 
lucid solutions of their difficulties, such clear 
demonstrations of saving truths as are found no- 
where else in ancient or modern epistolary writ- 
ings. His counsels of wisdom, gentleness, self- 
denial, meekness and patience direct to-day our 
households, govern our churches, and guide our 
missionary enterprises. Even his enemies confess 
that his epistles are both weighty and profound. 

Paul's life and labors will not be fully known 
until their rich fruits are gathered at the last 
day. In general terms it may be said, that 
mainly through him the Gentiles heard the gos- 
pel and the Church of Christ was founded among 
them, that idolatry vanished and the pure light 
of revealed truth shone upon the dark and be- 
nighted nations of the earth. In Ephesus, in 
Corinth, in Athens, in Philippi, in Thessalonica 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 163 

and in Galatia, as well as along the coast of the 
Mediterranean, from Jerusalem to Rome — every- 
where may be found imperishable monuments to 
his untiring zeal and apostleship. 

The elements entering into the structure of this 
unique character are rare and numerous. Ev T en 
the setting must be carefully considered before 
we can discover its full splendor. The time of 
his birth was marked by the greatest events of 
secular history. It was during the reign of 
Augustus, which was the most illustrious in 
Roman histor} T . When Saul began to inhale the 
pure air of the Taurus mountains and to lave in 
the crystal waters of the Cydnus, there was a 
noted youth rambling over the hills of Hebron, 
preparing himself by meditation and prayer to 
become the voice of one crying in the wilderness ; 
and. another more distinguished still, seen play- 
ing around Nazareth and the slopes of Tabor. 
And on the banks of Grennesaret could be found 
also three or four ruddy fishermen mending their 
nets, who were destined of Providence to become 
the inspired apostles of the coming dispensation. 
Neither the parents, nor the youths themselves, 
with one exception, knew aught of the sublime 
relations which they were to hold to each other in 
coming years : 

' ' God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform ; 
He plants his footsteps on the sea, 
He rides upon the storm.'* 



161: NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

Notice, first, some of the important agents in 
the formation of Saul's character. The first was 
the example and training of his parents. They 
were both Jews, as he has repeatedly informed 
us. He alleges that he was a Hebrew of the 
Hebrews, or a Jew from both parents. Though 
residents, and perhaps natives of Tarsus, yet his 
father and mother were bigoted members of the 
Jewish Church. They belonged to the sect called 
the Pharisees. And from the words, " he served 
God from his forefathers" we infer that his an- 
cestors for generations had been strict Pharisees, 
serving the God of Israel in the s} r nagogue at the 
Gentile citj- of Tarsus. 

It is a remarkable fact that no mention is made 
by Paul of his mother. Most of the distinguished 
men of earth have owed a large debt of gratitude 
to their mothers, and they have usually taken 
pleasure in acknowledging it. Are we to con- 
clude that Paul is an exception to this rule? 
It is difficult to do so. Some commentators 
have explained the omission by saying that the 
mother had probably died before the son was 
old enough to remember her. If that had been 
the case it would have been doubtless mentioned 
somewhere in his epistles. But a better explana- 
tion is, that his mother, though a true woman, 
was the most bigoted of the Pharisees, that she 
had trained her son to hate all other sects, and to 
be unswerving in his adherence to the interests 
of her own religion, and when he was converted 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 165 

on the way to Damascus, and made one of the 
followers of Jesus, she blotted his name out of the 
family record and banished him as far as possible 
from her memory. This conduct is not without 
a parallel. Many a Jewish mother since then has 
done likewise. May we not conclude, therefore, 
that Paul, as a dutiful son, has intentionally 
thrown the cloak, not merely of charity but of 
silence also, over that devoted but bigoted 
parent. "Who can tell," says Dr. McDuff, "but 
ere he became Paul, the Aged, he was allowed 
to sit by the dying pillow of that mother and 
point her sinking soul to the same Jesus who 
met him on his way to Damascus ! " 

By such parents Saul was doubtless taught to 
believe in the Jewish Scriptures, to be a stern 
advocate of the law's authority, and to be the 
supporter of a regularly constituted government ; 
to oppose every outbreak of irregularities and 
passion ; to live a strictly moral life, to be un- 
yielding in his opinions regarding his religion 
and to use all means in his power to propagate 
its truths ; to be intolerant of the opinions of 
others, even to persecution, in order to carry out 
the principles of his sect. Such was clearly the 
early training of Saul of Tarsus. 

In addition to this, he enjoyed all the advan- 
tages of the Jewish school in his native city. It 
is not likely that he was ever sent to the Univer- 
sity of Tarsus, because there his mind would be 
in danger of being contaminated by heathen and 



166 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

corrupt teachings. The Jews who lived among 
the Gentiles, and who suffered man} T things on 
account of their nationality, became intensely 
Jewish in their views and feelings. The home 
training and the teaching of their schools tended 
to produce this result. When Saul was old 
enough to be in danger of having his views 
liberalized and his morals corrupted by contact 
with Greeks and Syrians, he was sent to Jerusa- 
lem, where he would enjoy the instruction of the 
greatest rabbi of the nation. 

There the teaching was of the same general 
character as that which he had enjoyed at home 
and in the school at Tarsus. Though Gamaliel 
was a man of candor and coolness of judgment, 
as is clear from his advice to the Sanhedrin, yet 
he was a Jew to the very core. He was a 
teacher of the law. He would sacrifice everything 
to maintain authority in the Church and in the 
State. We can readily trace his influence on the 
whole of Saul's public life — alike as a Jewish 
persecutor and a defender of the faith which 
he at first labored to destroy. We can see how 
he would be likel} 7 to s}-mpathize with persecu- 
tors ; how confidence could be reposed in him in 
that regard; how he would abstain from acts of 
open violence and lawlessness, and 3*et how, 
under the sanction of law, he might become — as 
he did — one of the most violent enemies of the 
Christian Church. 

We have now before us the }'Oung Cilician Jew 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 167 

as the open enemy of Christianity. He hated it 
with perfect hatred. We read that he persecuted 
its adherents unto death, binding and delivering 
into prison both men and women. The martyr- 
dom of Stephen had intensified his hatred. 
" Like the taste of blood to a wild beast," says 
one commentator, '• it heightened his ferocity and 
quickened his powers to make havoc of the 
Church. The very breath of his soul was ma- 
lignity toward the disciples of the new religion. 
It was like the heat of a furnace threatening to 
scorch and burn everything on which it fell. 
His whole nature and education gave momentum 
to his work of destruction " His was a mighty 
intellect, and we know that intellect rules to a 
great extent the feelings of love and hatred. In 
men of weak minds the emotions are usually 
feeble as compared with those of men endowed 
with strong powers of mind. As Saul was great 
in intellect his hatred of the Church was intense. 
It was literally fanned into a flame. He was also 
a man of tremendous impulses. He was not one 
of the cold, phlegmatic and unimpassioned ones, 
the fires of whose natures are too weak to flame. 
He was the very opposite. Feeling in him was a 
sea of fire, and its great tides throbbed through 
every artery in his body. He did nothing with- 
out feeling. Feeling gave force to every purpose, 
a flash to every look, emphasis to every word, 
and a resoluteness to every act. The love of 
such a nature was worth much — worth every- 



168 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

thing ; the hatred of the same was such as might 
well make men tremble. 

He was, moreover, a man of great conscien- 
tiousness. Wherever conscience gives her sane 
tion to men's feelings their strength reaches its 
highest point. Whatever feeling, thought or 
effort conscience sanctions, it intensifies. Saul's 
conscience not on!}' sanctioned, but enforced his 
enmity toward Christ. He considered that he 
' ; was doing God service," and regarded it as a 
sacred obligation to blot, if he could, the name of 
Jesus from the earth ! 

The enmity of Saul did not live merely in 
feeling, however strong, nor did it expend itself 
in anathemas, however terrible. It took a practi- 
cal shape of the most determined sort. It is 
said that he made havoc of the Church, that he 
shut in prison many saints, and that he did all he 
could to make them blaspheme the name of 
Jesus. It is stated further that he invaded the 
sanctuaries of domestic life — entering into every 
house — and ruthlessly tearing away those whom 
he committed to prison. 

Before he went after the poor fugitives who 
had sought an asjdum in Damascus, he showed 
the effect of the legal training he had enjoyed 
in Tarsus and Jerusalem. He secured from the 
high priest letters legalizing his efforts in the 
interest, as he regarded it, of the religion of 
his fathers. And, as soon as he had received 
them, he started to wreak his vengeance on young 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 169 

and old, male and female. Without delay he 
went with men of like views and purposes to 
Damascus in order to persecute all who believed 
in the Christian religion. 

Without attempting to describe the journe}^, or 
to set forth the probable thoughts which passed 
through his mind, as he caught the first glimpse 
of Damascus, resting like an island of paradise, 
in the green enclosure of its beautiful gardens, we 
shall simpl} r undertake to portray his conversion. 
It was one of the miraculous sort which unregen- 
erate men generally look for. As he came in 
sight of the walls of that ancient city, suddenly, 
at midday, there appeared a light in the firma- 
ment, a dazzling brightness, above that of the 
sun. It was not a flash of lightning, but a con- 
tinued glare composed of rays that darted from 
the body of the Sun of Righteousness, who 
condescended to appear personally to the heart- 
less persecutor of the Church, when in sight of 
his victims, sure of speedy victory, and almost 
ready to send up his shouts of triumph. At this, 
he and his companions in travel, fell to the 
earth, dazzled and confounded. He lay speech- 
less, wondering what all this could mean. When 
he dared to lift his eyes toward the light, lo ! 
there shone the emblem of Grod's presence — the 
Shekinah which had dwelt in the tabernacle and 
the temple. But it was no mere light — no mere 
vision which was before him. There was also an 
august Person. It was Jesus of Nazareth, whom 



170 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

he was persecuting. We are not left in doubt in 
regard to this, because he tells us more than once 
that he had seen the Lord. Jesus addressed him 
in the Hebrew tongue, in that same tongue in 
which he had conversed with his twelve disciples. 
He named him twice : " Saul, Saul, why perse- 
cutest thou me? It is not my poor, innocent 
people that you are cruel to, but to me. I and 
they are one. What you do to them I feel as 
if you were doing it to me ; in injuring them 
you are injuring me." What an encouraging 
thought ! What a disclosure of the tender 
heart of Jesus ! Even Stephen's dying love is 
not to be compared with this. " Why persecut- 
est thou me i " If the smitten one had dared to 
excuse himself, it would doubtless be somewhat 
after this fashion : " I took no part in the scenes 
of the garden or in the transactions of Calvary! 
I was not one of those who apprehended thee 
with swords and staves ! I gave thee no traitor's 
kiss. I wove for thee no crown of twisted thorns. 
I plunged no spear into thy side. My tongue 
was not emplo} r ed in mocking thee whilst hang- 
ing on the cursed tree." If the Saviour had re- 
plied it would have been perhaps in some such 
words as these : " Inasmuch as ye did it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it 
unto me! '' Then would come the question from 
the confused lips of the vanquished foe, " Who 
art thou, Lord ? " And the answer would follow 
from the glorified One: il I am Jesus of Nazareth, 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 171 

whom thou persecutest ! I am the Lord of 
glory ! It is hard for thee to kick against the 
pricks." 

What could the helpless persecutor now ex- 
pect ? Convinced of his guilt, what could he 
look for but sudden destruction from the pres- 
ence of the Lord and from the glory of his 
power? But God's thoughts are not as our 
thoughts. He had designs of mercy toward him 
and had provided a work and a reward for him 
far beyond his expectation. The power of the 
Spirit was exerted in connection with the heav- 
enly vision to change his heart. It is not proba- 
ble that Saul's companions, though greatly 
affrighted like himself, were converted. God has 
often spoken to men in thunders and lightnings 
and earthquakes, by voices from heaven and 
visions from the dead, without changing their 
hearts. Nothing but grace can do that. The 
heart of Saul was subdued and changed, for he, 
trembling and astonished, exclaimed, " Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ? " 

Notice, secondly, some of the effects of this 
revelation upon the mind of Saul. They were 
twofold. First, it brought him into conscious 
contact with Christ. "Who art thou, Lord?" 
As yet he knew not who it was that had appeared 
and spoken to him. The word " Lord " may 
mean nothing more in this connection than " Sir." 
As yet he was in the dark as to the one who was 
dealing with him. He knew not who came in the 



172 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSION'S. 

splendor, or who spoke in the electric flash. His 
ignorance, however, was quickly removed. He 
heard a voice sa}'ing, " I am Jesus whom thou 
persecutest." This answer filled the soul of the 
persecutor with the thought that he was in imme- 
diate contact with Jesus of Nazareth. He saw 
him first with the eyes of his mind and never 
forgot the sight. He took delight in referring 
to this again and again in after-life. 

He was not onty brought into contact with the 
person of Christ, but into a complete submission 
to his will. He said, " Lord, w r hat wilt thou have 
me to do ? " His own will was at last overcome. 
The will of the Sanhedrin was no longer of 
importance to him, the will of Christ was all. 
The revolution was thorough and the submission 
complete. From this time forth the glory of 
Christ filled his vision, the name of Christ 
charmed his ears, the interests of Christ's king- 
dom called into exercise all the powers of his 
soul and bod3\ From the day of his conversion 
he lived and labored, suffered and died for his 
Saviour. By him he tested the value of all 
things, and all that failed to bear that test was 
by him rejected. Whatever task he undertook, 
whatever plan he laid out, whatever plea he 
urged, whatever end he set before his eyes, but 
one question was asked regarding it, namely, 
" How will it stand in relation to Christ ? " 

What a change ! How thorough, how wonder- 
ful, how soon effected! What a world was that 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 173 

which burst on Saul's vision when his eyes were 
shut to the beauties of the plains of the Abana 
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus ! How every- 
thing he had valued paled before that ! What 
nonentities seemed all the world's power and 
greatness, its grandeur and magnificence ! How 
the unseen and eternal unveiled to his soul the 
fictitious value set on all things seen and tem- 
poral ! How clearly he discovered, to his great 
dismay, that he had been walking in a vain show J 

This is Saul's second birth, and yet it is infi- 
nitely more exalted than that on the banks of the 
Cyclnus — more exalted because in the former he 
was born but to die, whereas in the latter he was 
born a son of the Highest, to live forever. Bet- 
ter ! because the march of the feet which climbed 
the slopes of the Taurus, was along a rough path 
between the cradle and the coffin; whereas the 
way of grace, with its toils and trials, shipwrecks 
and forty stripes save one, its bitter persecutions 
and long imprisonments, was from regeneration 
onward and upward to a crown of glory in 
heaven. Happy for you, dear reader, if you are 
heaven-born and heaven-bound ! It may be that 
like Paul's, a stormy life is before }*ou ; but let 
storms rage and tempests roar — however rude the 
gale or high the billows — a heaven-born passen- 
ger in a heaven-bound bark, you cannot fail to 
enter the haven of eternal rest. 

Notice, lastly, some of the immediate results of 
Saul's conversion. The first mentioned is that 



174 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

he prayed. There is deep significance in this 
declaration. He was a Pharisee, given to long 
prayers on the corners of the streets. These 
were regarded by him after his conversion 
as of no account. He drew his first spiritual 
breath amid the aromatic shrubs in the plains of 
Damascus. 

" Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
The Christian's native air." 

The second result was willingness to mingle 
with the persecuted people he had so heartily 
despised. He went to the house of an humble 
deacon, or even a private member of the church, 
to receive instruction as to his future course in 
the world. What! the proud disciple of Gama- 
liel sitting at the feet of Ananias ! The most 
brilliant member of the Jewish Sanhedrin taking 
counsel of an humble man whom that august body 
had condemned ! The terror of the followers of 
Christ is now moving like a lamb among those 
who trembled at the sound of his name ! What 
wonder of divine grace ! To see the pride of 
birth, loftiness of intellect, brilliancy of genius 
and unimpeachable morality laid at the foot of 
the cross of a despised Galilean, and to witness 
the Jewish rabbis, the senators of the nation and 
the learned of the land set aside for the fellow- 
ship of fishermen, humble peasants and ignorant 
craftsmen is no ordinary sight. This is the 
Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes ! 



NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS, 175 

The third result is the giving up of the bright- 
est worldly prospects for a promised inheritance 
beyond the grave. " Saul of Tarsus," says some 
one, u gave up hopes and prospects as brilliant as 
any ever cherished by an aspiring youth ; he 
subjected himself to the bitter hatred and scorn 
of his kindred ; he embraced a religion at the 
time the most unpopular of all on earth ; he ex- 
posed himself to every form of persecution ; he 
became poor, an outcast and a wanderer ; he set 
before him one great object of life, if by any 
means he might save some ; he feared no danger, 
was appalled by no obstacle, asked no reward, 
was checked b} T no opposition; he avowed his 
principles everywhere — seeking to assert and 
defend them in places of intelligence, influence 
and power — where men were best qualified to 
judge of truth, and where a sensitive and noble- 
minded man would feel it most keenly, if his 
sentiments were held in contempt, when con- 
fronted with philosophy al Athens, and when 
arraigned for his life before Nero ; never waver- 
ing, never shrinking, never breathing out one 
sigh of regret, never concealing his new views ; 
exulting, triumphing, rejoicing to the end of life 
that he had counted all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Christ." 

What a change ! None of the fanciful transfor- 
mations of Ovid could rival the matchless work 
wrought by Christ upon this sinner's heart. Oh, 
what a difference between Saul of Tarsus breath- 



1<6 NEW TESTAMENT CONVERSIONS. 

ing out threatenings, and Paul the apostle saj-ing, 
" I am now ready to be offered " ! Between " the 
dead in trespasses and sins," and the quickened 
by divine grace ! " If God should speak to 
Niagara and bid its floods, in their tremendous 
leap, stand still," says Mr. Spurgeon, " that were 
a trifling demonstration of power compared with 
the stay of the soul bent on slaughter at the 
gates of Damascus ! If he should suddenly speak 
to the broad Atlantic, and bid it be wrapped in 
flames, we should not then see such a manifesta- 
tion of his greatness as when he converted that 
sea of fire in the heart of Saul into a fountain of 
love and kindness I ' ; 



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